Icarus
by The Beetle
Summary: Foaly has designed a prototype for a new breed of stealth shuttles, the difference is that this one is designed for space travel. So what will happen on its very first test flight into outer space? This is going to be one wild ride! OLD N' UPDATED
1. Prologue

**A.N Hello everyone! This is the sequal to The Black Rose (You don't have to have read that to understand this) it is set before the '_Four Months Later'_ chapter, enjoy!**

**NMEC's**

**Icarus**

By Beetle Juice

Major Trouble Kelp had been promoted to Commander after the arrest of IA agent Ark Sool. Many people said that he was the greatest Commander that had ever been, but he disagreed. There had been one who he considered better, a hero of his time-LEP Commander Julius Root. Trouble had decided to follow Commander Root's lead since day one, he had not been wrong yet. But as he was about to find out the mission he was about to go on would turn out to be one of his biggest mistakes ever.

**This was just the prologue-don't worry, the first chapter will be up soon (it depends of my mum kicks me off the computer before I can put it up or not!) Please, tell me what you think! XD**


	2. Icarus

**Chapter 1: Icarus**

**6:21am, the 29****th**** of July 2007**

**Male's change rooms, Police Plaza, Haven City, Underground.**

"Don't tell me you're nervous Ash," Trouble laughed at his friend as he sat on a steel bench, quivering in his boots.

"I'm not!" Captain Ash Vein said indignantly trying to hide the fact that he was about to be sick. "What about you Chix?" The sprite in question was still blockaded in a toilet cubicle.

"I've already emptied my stomach twice; of course I'm not nervous."

"If you're that nervous then why are you coming Chix?" Although Trouble thought he knew the answer he wanted to make sure he wasn't assuming anything.

"Why do you think?" Ash interrupted before Chix could answer "Chix and Holly sitting in a tree K-I-S-"

"That's enough Ash," Trouble scowled "just put you're jumpsuit on and get down to the ops booth for the briefing."

"What about Holly?" Chix had let it slip out of his mouth before he even thought about what he was saying.

"Yes Chix," Trouble turned to the cubicle that Chix was huddled in "_what_ about Holly?"

"I was just wondering who was going to get her, she hasn't been in the LEP for a while-she's still Section 8 even."

"He's right for once Trouble," Ash turned to his friend grinning "she might get lost; I think you should go and get her."

"I hardly doubt that she would get lost Captain, unless we've knocked down a few walls since she was here last and created a labyrinth of corridors she won't have a problem getting to the ops booth."

"Go or I'll puke on you," Ash said, he was still shaking in his boots.

"Fine," Trouble said holding his hands up in mock surrender "I'll go but just wait till we get in the shuttle, I'll get you back!" Ash waited for his Commander to be halfway out the door before he started singing,

"Trouble and Holly sitting in a tree, K-I-S-" Trouble slammed the door on his friends tuneless singing and stalked off down the corridor towards the females change rooms.

**5 minutes later, outside the females change rooms.**

Trouble leant back against the whitewashed wall and waited for Major Short to open the change rooms swinging door so he could get to ops to find out exactly what why Foaly wanted him to fly a shuttle in to the furthest reaches of the atmosphere. He decided that if Holly didn't come out within another minute he would have to go in himself-but he dearly hoped that it didn't come to that. He waited…….and one minute past, he decided to give her one more minute so he waited…..and that minute past. Damn, he would have to go in.

Trouble checked that the corridor was clear, if anyone saw him going into the girls change rooms he would be the laughing stock of the whole city. It was clear so he decided to go for it, his hand was on the door knob when it opened, he jumped back as a blonde elf came striding out.

"Trouble?" It was Lili Frond "what are you doing here?"

"Um….have you seen Major Short?"

"Holly, yeah she's in there," Lili nodded her head towards the now closed door "she was grinding her teeth a lot."

"Thanks Lili," Holly was obviously nervous like the rest of flight crew "is it alright if I go in there?"

"Yeah, sure," Lili grinned as she walked away "just don't scare her." Lili was right; if you scared Holly Short you were likely to have a broken nose the next day.

"Thanks!" He shouted after her and turned back to opaque door; he placed his hand on the doorknob and wrenched it open. Behind it was a long blue corridor with various doors leading off from it; it was now that he wished he'd asked for directions from Lili.

"Hello?" He called as he walked down the corridor, reading the plaques on the doors as he went. "Is anyone here?" There was no answer to his questions so he kept walking, none of the plaques stood out-_showers, weapons lock-up, first aid_, there was nothing very helpful. Then he passed a sign that read _Change rooms and toilets._ That must be the one he needed, he mustered up his courage and opened the door. He quickly scanned the room; it was empty except for a few female officers who started giggling profusely when they noticed that the Commander was in the change rooms. Then his gaze shifted to the far corner of the room and there she was, pulling her shirt down over her head. Trouble resisted the urge to watch and closed his eyes, after a little while Holly spoke, she sounded quite close to him.

"You can open you're eyes now Commander," he could almost imagine the grin on her face.

"You're decent now I take it?"

"When am I not?" Trouble was about to respond when she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the change rooms. "We have a briefing to be getting to Commander; you can come back and watch later though." She was laughing now,

"That would please you no end Short," he had said it before even thinking "sorry."

"What for? We used to joke around with each other before I left, I didn't think that anything had changed."

"Nothing has," Trouble had been expecting a smack in the face "but I bet you would have loved it if I-" He got the smack in the face that he had been waiting for.

"I agree," Holly laughed "nothings changed!"


	3. Say Your Goodbyes

**A.N My god! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated-here is the reason...**

**The computer refusedt to upload my documents and I just figured out (using my genius IQ!) that I had to put .doc on the end of any files that I was trying to upload! So here it is-finally!**

**NMEC's**

**Chapter 2: Say your Goodbyes**

**6:37am, Operations Booth, Police Plaza, Haven Centre Underground.**

Foaly was getting fed up of waiting; if he had to delay any longer the launch would probably have to be delayed till the next day.

"I wonder what their doing?" Chix said sullenly to Ash (he still thought that he should have been the one who went to get Holly.)

"Their probably making jokes at each others expenses at the moment and then they'll run all the way here shouting embarrassing comments." As if Ash had called them Trouble ran through the ops booth door just a few seconds ahead of Holly.

"Well, now that you're here I think we can begin," Foaly was scowling so hard that his eyebrows almost met into a mono brow.

"It wasn't my fault that I'm late Foaly before you start shouting at me, it's his," Holly pointed at Trouble who was standing in the corner. "He pushed me into a trash can." Most of the room's occupants looked questioningly at Trouble who grinned as he thought of a good enough retort.

"I didn't push her, the bin was already in the way-maybe it was attracted to her-" Holly cut him off with a death glare and Foaly took the opportunity to continue with his briefing.

"I want everyone to sit down and listen; this is a very important and _dangerous_ mission, if you don't know what you're doing then things are likely to go wrong." Foaly stepped over to a gas screen that was idling on the wall next to him, when he tapped it a schematic of a shuttle appeared. "This is the shuttle Icarus, it has been built specifically for _space_ travel over the past two years. As you can see its kept its teardrop shape, but there are a few features in here that you won't find anywhere else-It has three engines." Chix had put his hand up to ask a question but Foaly ignored him and continued "a main rocket blaster and two secondary thrusters."

"But what this mission that we're going on?" Chix finally butted in.

"I was just about to tell you," Foaly gave the sprite a good long glare and then turned back to the rest of his listeners "as you all know-or should know-this shuttle is yet to be tested, you are the test pilots." Chix was starting to turn white at the thought of flying a test case. "The test is quite simple, you go up through the Earths atmosphere," as Foaly talked he ran a finger across the gas screen and it displayed what seemed to be a sling-shot trajectory that ended just outside the exosphere. "You will then orbit the Earth for a few hours and come back down at E1, got it?"

"I guess," Trouble said "what have we got as far as jobs go?"

"You are rostered as co-pilot and commanding officer, Chix, you're the in charge of keeping the engines burning and the trunk load of weapons we're putting in there, Ash you're the navigator so you're in charge of the trajectory, flight plan-that sort of stuff and Holly you're pilot. Are there any more questions?"

"Just how big is this shuttle?" Chix was trying to find a scale on the schematic that Foaly was using.

"Well, to give you an idea it was designed to have a crew of around twelve officers."

"That big, eh?"

"Yes, Chix." Foaly said patronisingly "that big."

"One last question Foaly," Holly looked confused for some reason.

"Go on."

"Why is the shuttle called Icarus?"

"It wasn't my idea, I thought that it would jinx the whole mission but Commander Sool insisted on it; I haven't finished the papers to change the name yet."

"Sool named it?" Trouble spat.

"Oh gods," Chix was white now "that makes me feel a whole lot better."

"Its just superstition Chix," Holly laughed "I can't believe you think that were actually going to fly into the sun, do you know how far away that is?"

"Actually it's not that far if you use the hyper drive function, but that hasn't been completed yet."

"Gee thanks Foaly, big help."

"I wasn't trying to hel-" Foaly stopped when the ops booth door opened again and Wing Commander Vinyaya walked in flanked by two other fairies."

"Hows it going Foaly?" Vinyaya laughed "finished the briefing yet?"

"I was just finishing off, why?"

"We came to say good luck," the two fairies at Vinyayas sides stepped into the light and it quickly became evident they were ex-convicts Mulch Diggums and Doodah Day.

"Oh god," Foaly breathed and stepped back slightly (the last time they were near him he hadn't had a good experience) "I think, I have some pre-flight checks to do, I'll go do them now." He rushed out of ops, leaving a room full of laughing fairies.

"It so good to see you Mulch," Holly stepped forward quickly but then thought better of hugging the dwarf and shook his hand instead. "You too Doodah, sorry about all this cloak and dagger stuff but I'm still working for Section 8."

"Why are you here then?" Mulch looked around the metal walls of the ops booth.

"They needed a pilot so I'm on loan to the LEP for a few days now."

"Oh, I see," Doodah was still processing the information that had just been thrown at him "I think." Vinyaya who had been studying the room's occupants laughed as she noticed Chix's pale face.

"Not nervous are we Corporal?"

"Who me?" Chix started "no Wing Commander, just don't feel too good."

"What about you Ash, your teeth seem to be chattering."

"Of course I'm n-nervous," Ash was starting to go as green as a sprite's behind (no offence to Chix). "I'm going to be launched into space in less than an hour on a never before tested shuttle."

"I'm sure that it's been tested before Ash," Trouble grinned at his friends face "Foaly doesn't hate us that much."

**5 minutes later, shuttle bays, E1, Haven end.**

"What do you mean you've _never_ tested it before Foaly?" Trouble was trying to keep up with the trotting centaur "haven't you taken it for a few underground flights?"

"I've used most of the equipment in simulators-"

"Simulators Foaly!" Trouble was trying to keep his voice down but it was starting to rise "I didn't know that I still had a death threat on my head."

"I assure you _Commander_, everything is quite safe-it was all designed by yours truly."

"Well that makes me feel an awful lot better." Trouble muttered sarcastically.

"What was that?" Foaly looked up from a few wires he had been tweaking "did you say something?"

"No," Trouble said quickly "I didn't say anything."

"Good, I hope your ready Kelp."

"I think I am."

"And I take it that you know what you're doing?"

"Sort of," Trouble bit his lip "but it might be wise to tell me again."

"Okay oh great one, you're going to fly up to E1 in a normal shuttle then transfer to the Icarus when you get aboveground and then…..up you go."

"Very reassuring Foaly, when do we leave?"

"About now," Foaly pushed him towards the shuttles open doors "Good luck!"

"Thanks Foaly," Trouble ducked his head as he jumped through the hatch "try not to get us killed on this mission."

"I won't," Foaly yelled back before he turned and trotted off towards the mission ops, just before he disappeared around a corner he turned around and whinnied "on this mission."

**E.N Hope you enjoyed that-updates should be faster now! XD**

**Jess**


	4. Earth

**A.N Guess what! I'm b-a-c-k! (Did I just here you guys say oh no?) So here is the chapter that I've owed you all for too long-I promise to get the rest of this up really soon (no joke!)**

**Oh, and my excuse for this being so late that its almost christmas? I was on a 3 week solar car race through the middle of Australia (feel free to ask me about that!) and then I was sick, overloaded with school work and tests, then the motherboard in my computer fried and then the graphics card in my computer died (for the 2nd time this year!) My computer is possessed!**

NMEC'S, Enjoy!

**Chapter 3: Earth**

**7:08am, a field, E1 Tara, Ireland.**

"Well that was fun," Holly laughed as she jumped from the shuttles hatch.

"Very," moaned Chix "when was the last time you took a refresher course?"

"It depends if you add on the three years that I wasn't here."

"I think that explains it," Ash stumbled from the shuttle looking extremely nauseas.

"I don't see what you two are complaining about," Trouble was already half way across the field "that'll feel like a Ferris wheel compared to what's next." Chix and Ash both doubled over in unison,

"I think we should go on ahead," Holly turned away from them.

"I agree," Trouble pointed towards what seemed to be a small lake "Foaly said that the ports under there." Holly fell into step beside Commander Kelp. It was a few moments before either of them spoke again.

"So, you never told me how you got the top job," Holly tapped the triple acorn logo on Trouble's lapel "what did you use to bribe the council into picking you?" They both chuckled at that.

"Well, when Sool got fired a few years back I was the next highest ranking officer, so I was the next in line for the job."

"Where did Sool go after he left the LEP?"

"No one knows exactly but the last I heard he was on some nice little island in the tropics." Holly kicked a pebble across the muddy ground,

"He doesn't exactly deserve a happy ending."

"That's what I said, but he was already gone before I could have done anything."

"Do you reckon they've stopped spewing yet?" Holly changed the subject quickly.

"Hopefully, we are on a deadline-Foaly will go nuts if we run over time." Trouble turned and yelled back to Chix and Ash "Hurry it up you two."

"So where is the port entrance?" Holly asked as she reached the edge of the lake.

"…..there it is," Trouble pointed to a screen of bulrushes a couple of metres away.

"So this is it then."

"This is what?"

"This is possibly the last time we'll ever have our feet on the ground, breathe fresh air."

"Your not changing you're mind are you Holly," Trouble teased but he was thinking the exact same thing that she was-_will we ever see Earth again_. The moment of silence was spoiled by Ash and Chix's entrance to the group.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ash asked.

"Are you asking her-"

"Don't Chix," Trouble warned "you can go in first." Chix scowled and jumped into the clump of bulrushes-it was only a hologram-and after a little scrabbling with an electronic lock he disappeared from sight.

"Right Ash, you're next."

"Fine with me if you want to be alone with the Captain," Before Trouble could respond Ash gave him a wonky salute and jumped into the bulrushes behind Chix.

"You're next Holly," he turned back to the female elf.

"I know," Holly bent to down and plucked a small violet flower from the ground. She twirled it between her fingers as she looked back up at Trouble "needed a souvenir." Trouble grinned as she turned and paused, about to dive into the bulrushes.

"If you run off while we're all down there waiting I'm going to kill you."

"Don't worry, I'll be down in a minute," Trouble turned to the horizon as Holly disappeared from view, the sun had just set and it was still casting rays of sunlight through the rapidly darkening sky-it was beautiful. He was thinking of Holly's little flower as he looked around the field one last time. There was a stem of orchid like flowers not very far away so Trouble took it carefully from the ground and turned back to the bulrushes-everybody needs a souvenir sometimes.

**In the shuttle.**

Trouble heard laughing as he jumped through the entrance hatch into the shuttle; Ash and Chix were probably messing around again.

"What took you so long?" Chix shouted when he sat down in the co-pilots chair next to Holly's.

"Nothing that's you're business," Trouble replied as he tucked the stem of flowers into a cup holder that sat beside his seat "are we ready for take-off?"

"Almost," Holly said as she pressed various buttons in complex patterns-some of which Trouble didn't understand "just finishing off the pre-flight checks now."

"Good work," Trouble turned to the two fairies in the back "you may want to strap yourselves in now." Ash hurried over to a high backed chair that sat behind a bank of gas screens marked _navigation_. Chix went in the other direction to a gas screen that was currently showing a radar picture of the area around them, this screen was marked _weapons_.

"We ready?" Holly asked finally and fired the engines up with a roar.

"Yes," Trouble replied and felt his hand drifting towards hers "good luck," he said as his hand touched hers, then he turned red and quickly snatched it back.

"We're going then," Holly said before Chix could get a comment in "hold on to you're breakfast.

"Too late," Chix groaned "I lost it outside." Holly grinned and gunned the engines slightly more than usual.

"Then don't lose it again," Holly slammed her hand against the ignition button and the main engine blasted into life, shooting them up through the surface of the lake and into to the pitch dark sky. "Have you got anything on radar Chix?" Holly asked against the pressure that was starting to accumulate in the shuttle.

"No," Chix groaned.

"Good," Holly turned back to the engines read outs, all systems where at 100, they were now flying along at almost 1500km/h.

"We have two minutes before we exit Earth's atmosphere-"

"One minute thirty," Holly was grinning as she wrestled the shuttle back onto its set course "and I think that the handling could do with a little work if you're listening Foaly."

"Why thankyou," An image appeared in the top right hand corner of the windscreen "remember, I'm the one who has control over the life support systems-I'd be careful with what you say if I was you."

"Was that a threat?"

"No, it was merly a warning-here's a threat," Foaly grinned and began to say something that he had obviously been planning out for a while "if you don't comply with the rules of the creator of this shuttle-which would be me-I will open the hatches and you can all be sucked out into space."

"Well that wasn't very creative at all." Foaly shrugged.

"I'm on a tight schedule here; it's not my fault I don't have enough time to come up with my usual brilliant remarks."

"Fine, I'll let you off on that one," Holly glanced up at Foaly "but anymore and I'm warning you-I'm landing this shuttle on your head."

"You wouldn't be able to-" Foaly paused and then scowled "I've got to go-someone wants to talk to you-but I expect that we will continue this conversation later." Before Holly could ask who wanted speak to her an image crackled into life where Foaly's had been just seconds ago.

"Artemis?" Holy asked "how on Earth did you get this number?"  
"I know someone who has all the numbers," Artemis smiled and began again "there is a reason why I called."

"And that is?"

"I'm sorry Holly but I couldn't explain my disappearance any other way," Artemis grimaced and continued "I told me parents about the fairies, Butler had already tried to tell them before but they hadn't believed him."

"So do you need a mind wipe now?" Holly said almost sarcastically.

"No, I would never do anything like that to my parents," Artemis glanced towards what seemed to be a door at the back of the room he was in. "My parents asked me if they could see said fairies, I asked Foaly wether I could show them-he agreed that they could see some fairies-but Foaly being Foaly did not want to be the fairy who was seen, instead he gave me you're number."

"I don't like this Fowl, it's not just me in this room, you'll have to ask the others."

"Alright then, who doesn't want to be seen by my parents?" Nobody spoke. "I think that's settled then, but look on the bright side Holly (Artemis almost cringed at such a cliché expression) Butler and Juliet will be here too." Holly considered him for a moment.

"Fine, but if I seem a little distracted it's because I'm driving a space ship right now."

"Oh ha ha Holly," Artemis took a look around the shuttle again with his eyebrows raised "oh, you're not joking, my parents won't mind."

"Go for it then," Holly turned to Trouble "don't do anything strange, all you have to do is sit there looking pretty, alright?"

"I do that everyday Major." Artemis cleared his throat and the two elves turned to see a whole pile of humans now staring at them. It seemed that Artemis had forgotten to mention the fact that he had told the twins as well.

"So is this them Arty?" Angeline asked her son "Is this the fairies?"

"Yes mother," Artemis said from a corner of the room "they do speak English."

"And every other language under the Earth," Holly grinned, the four humans who had been staring at her almost fell over backwards.

"You must be Holly," Artemis's father spoke first "he's said a lot about you."

"He has, has he?" Holly looked at Artemis before answering, Juliet and Butler had just appeared in the doorway and they moved to stand next to the teenage genius. "There all lies then." Angeline and Artemis senior were unsure wether they should laugh or not, the twins though did not share that uncertainty.

"What about you're companions," Artemis senior studied Trouble who sat next to her "they all look like their _elves_ as you call yourself, except from the one in the corner, is he green?" Holly tapped Trouble on the shoulder and pointed to the controls,

"You take over for a moment." Holly stood up from her chair and walked over to where Chix was cowering behind the weapons desk; she grabbed him by his lapels and dragged him up to the front. "This is Chix, he is a sprite, therefore he is green, has wings and is extremely annoying."

"And what about the other two?" Angeline asked.

"This is Ash," Holly let go of Chix who ran back to his desk to cower behind it "he is an elf like me, even if he does look a little green right now."

"Why is he green?"

"We're up in space right now." The Fowl's eyes rose in unison to the ceiling and back down again.

"Do you do that often?" Artemis senior enquired.

"No, this is the first time we've been up." Holly walked back over to the pilot's chair, Trouble moved to get up but Holly kept him in the seat with one hand on his shoulder. "Is there anything else?"

"I don't believe you've introduced that man there yet," Angeline looked at Trouble for a moment "What's that badge on his chest?"

"This is Trouble, he's an elf as well," Holly reached down and unclipped the badge that Angeline had been talking about from his uniform "this little badge here means that he is the Commander of our police force, it's like the badges on your police's uniforms that specify the rank of the officer." Trouble looked at her; his look was saying something along the lines of-_can I have my badge back now_? Holly laughed and held the badge high above his head, daring him to try and get it.

"Is he you're boyfriend?" Myles asked after a little bit of elbowing from his brother (the twins were not geniuses-genii if you insist-but their IQ was still above average) Holly flushed pink and started hastily.

"No Myles, he's like…..a brother to me." The twins seemed to understand that answer and leaned back against their parents again. "Is that all now?"

"I believe so," Artemis senior took one last look at the diminutive creatures in front of him and got up "I think we shall take our leave now, I'm sure that Juliet and Butler will want to speak with you. Good luck with the mission."

"Thankyou Mr. Fowl," Holly grinned as the Fowl's got up and left the room. Juliet and Butler slid into their recently vacated chairs and smiled up at the screen.

"So he's not you're boyfriend?" Juliet laughed.

**E.N Thanks so much for reading-please don't forget to review and if you have anything that you'd like me to read (on this site or otherwise) either say in a review or PM me (I will give out my E-mail if you want it)**

**Thanks so much again,**

**-Jess-**

**P.S I might just be able to update again today!**


	5. Space

**Look how committed I am! 2 chapters in about as many minutes! Please don't forget to review-I'd love to know what you think because there's so many new readers/writers on here since I last looked (Welcome to my humble abode!-Don't be afraid to say Hi, XD)**

**NMEC'S, Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: Space**

**8:18am, Circling Earth's outer atmosphere, Icarus. **

"I fold, you're deal," Ash said, throwing his cards down on the table. Chix added Ash's cards to his own pile and began to separate them equally again.

"Why do we have to stay out here when the Commander and Holly get to go to the crew quarters?"

"Because someone has to watch the ship," it was all too easy for Ash to guess where this conversation was going.

"So you don't think it's for anything more?"

"Like what Chix?" Ash rolled his eyes vigorously and waited for an answer.

"Haven't you noticed how close they've been since that gang incident?" (That was a reference to The Black Rose-just in case anyone was wondering)

"Chix, I know what you're about to say so don't," Ash was trying hard to stay calm as he explained yet again to Chix that they were not going out. "I can guess that Holy will be sat in there reading and Trouble will probably be lying on the top bunk fast asleep."

"Are you sure? Trouble can't take Holly, she was mine first"

"She's not anyone's Chix and that was final." Ash was glowing slightly red with anger; it looked like he had a mild temperature.

"Do you still feel sick?" Chix asked as he shuffled his own cards. Ash looked out of one of the cockpits portholes but turned back quickly.

"Only if I look out the window, it's just not right you know Chix-I don't think that the fairies were ever supposed to leave the Earth."

"Don't be silly Ash," Chix said as he threw down a few of his cards, the sprite obviously wasn't listening to him properly "that's all just superstition that Sool created when he was in power."

"I know that Chix but I can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Ash, you'll jinx it."

"You don't understand mate, I've had this feeling since we began this mission,"

"Maybe it was just you're stomach talking."

"No, I'm sure of it now-something will happen, it always does."

"Alright then," Chix leaned over the table that they were sat at "If you're so sure then you must know when this terrible thing is going to happen."

"I'm not a prophet Chix."

"I know that Ash, but if you had to hazard a guess at when it was going to happen-what would you say?"

"I would say-and this is just a guess-that it will happen-" Ash was cut-off by a groan from the engines just before the shuttle ground to a stop, its engines turned off. "Right about now."

"Boy Ash, if we were anywhere near the surface I'd tell you to buy a lotto ticket."

"Thanks Chix but I'm more worried about why we've stopped."

"Maybe it's just Foaly trying to scare us." Chix was shivering in his seat; he had never really wanted to come on this mission.

"That's an idea Chix," Ash walked over to the communications console and pressed a few Gnommish characters, he waited a moment and then went back to Chix and sat down looking green.

"What's the matter?" Chix noticed his friends green tint.

"The comms aren't working, it's an internal jammer signal-I'm sure of it."

"But an _internal_ jammer signal means that the signal must be coming from something in here and that means that someone back at the LEP must have planted something in here."

"Who would do th-" Ash's words faltered in his mouth when he started floating out of his seat-the gravity was gone.

**5 minutes earlier, Crews quarters, Icarus.**

Holly was having a hard time keeping her eyes open as she sat on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed with a copy of Trelina-murder mystery spread across her lap. She had been reading solidly for about forty minutes now and even though fairies had better concentration spans than humans she couldn't shake the boredom from the corners of her mind. It might have helped if she had someone to talk to but the only other person in the room was asleep on the bunk above her. She poked a finger experimentally through the slats on the bottom of the bunk bed and prodded Trouble in the back. He seemed to wake for a moment, then he rolled over and fell asleep again, typical. Holly turned back to her book but put it down again after a few minutes……so boring. Instead she put the book down and swung her legs over the edge of the bed onto the floor. Maybe she could go for a walk and see what Ash and Chix were doing. She glanced back at Trouble one last time and laughed, he was hanging over the edge of the bed and if the shuttle tilted by only a few degrees he would be thrown to the floor and probably wake up with a nice egg on his head. Come to think of it, maybe the shuttle needed its course correcting by a few degrees-after all she was the pilot. She was almost half way across the room when she heard a groan from the engines at the back of the shuttle and sensed that they were slowing down. She turned to one of the port holes and found that not only had they slowed down but they had actually come to a complete stand still.

Holly was struggling with her swipe card at the door to the main corridor when something else stopped working too and the room was plummeted into darkness as she was lifted off the floor. Everything in the room that wasn't tied down rose up into the air-including Trouble-and floated somewhere near the roof. Holly pulled out a comms mike from her back pocket and said Ash's number to the automatic dialler that was contained within it. She waited a few moments until a recorded message broke through the silence.

"_Sorry, you're call could not be connected,_" an annoying mechanical voice said "_one, the person you are trying to call could be out of range, two, you may not connected to the network or three, there is some sort of jamming device in you're vicinity_," It paused for a moment, as if it was thinking "_Our services detected option number three, have a nice day._" A jamming signal, that's all they needed now. Holly made a futile attempt to pull herself over to the corridor door. There was no point though, without gravity a lot of things were impossible to do.

Just as Holly thought this the lights and gravity came back on so everything that had been floating in mid air plummeted to the ground-including Holly and Trouble. Holly hit the ground first, but before Trouble could get anywhere near the ground from where he had been floating in mid air the shuttle tilted violently and he was thrown against the far wall on the way down. He landed next to Holly on the carpeted floor, his head dropped down over his chest as he slumped against the wall, blood trickling down his temple from under his brown hair. Holly crawled over to him as her own magic healed a few cuts and bruises on her arms from falling objects. She knew that he was unconscious before she even reached him, as she rolled him over a mass of rolling blue sparks skipped across his chest. She sat next to him as the magic fixed his broken ribs and reinflated a punctured lung, when everything had settled he woke up.

"What the hell was that?" He groaned as he tried to sit up but was held down by Holly.

"The gravity got switched off, are you aright?"

"Yeah, the last thing I remember was being asleep on my bunk and then I woke up and I was floating in the middle of the room."

"That's about right," Holly stood up and regained her balance, then she held a hand out to Trouble to pull himself up on. "What do we do now Commander?"

"Well," Trouble stretched his back and let his brain recover from the slight shock of being thrown against a wall. "I suggest that we get back up to the cockpit and have a go at turning this bird around so we can get back to Haven in one piece."

"Agreed, we should go and find Chix and Ash first though."

"If I know them they'll be cowering under their desks, praying that we don't crash."

"It's the end of the world!" Chix screamed as Trouble walked in.

"Get out from under your desk Corporal," the Commander couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes "what happened?"

"Well, you see we were just sat here," Chix began as he crawled out from under the table; on the other side of the room Captain Vein was involved in the same action. "And there was this big groan from the engines and we stopped, completely. Then we tried to call Foaly to tell him that whatever he was doing wasn't very funny, but we couldn't get through -there's a jammer you see-but the thing is, it's on board this shuttle.

"How can you be sure?" Holly asked (she doubted Chix's judgment at the best of times.)

I think I'll explain this," Ash knew that his friend was not very good with technical things. "The hull is so thick that no jamming signals would be able to penetrate it to get to our comms systems. The only logical explanation is that the device is already inside and for it to be inside then someone must have planted it."

"So you're saying that we have no communications, no engines and no way of controlling this bird?"

"Basically, yes."

"Have you tried to fly it yet?" Holly asked.

"No, we were waiting for you guys."

"Right then, never assume anything can't be done unless you've actually tried it already." Holly swung herself into the pilots chair and pressed a few buttons experimentally, nothing happened. Trouble leaned over her shoulder and examined a small print out from one of the various diagnostic machines that were connected to the main computer.

"I hate to say it Holly, but it doesn't look good."

"I know," she bit into her lip and thought for a moment "maybe if we go to the-" She was cut off when the shuttle suddenly lurched forward and the engines roared into life.

"That's a bit better," Chix looked out one of the portholes but immediately looked away as his lunch threatened to follow his breakfast.

"Actually its not," Ash was watching the flight plan on his navigation console "we've changed heading, on this current trajectory we should be at the sun in a few hours."

"Are you sure?" Trouble ran over to his friend "bloody hell." Holly grabbed the wheel and tried to wrestle the shuttle back onto its set course.

"It won't turn; I think I've been locked out of the system."

"That's bad, isn't it?"

"Yes Chix," Trouble threw himself down into the co-pilots chair "it means we have no control over this shuttle and that means that Foaly mustn't have control either."

"So then who does?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out;" Trouble rolled his eyes and turned back to Holly who was still wrestling with the shuttle "is there any other way to stop this thing?"

"There might be one other way," Holly said, reaching towards the starter chip.

"No Holly, don't!" But Trouble had been too slow, because her fingers were already on the edge of the little black starter chip that sat snugly in its. Trouble waited for something to happen, nothing did-he could have sworn that something terrible was going to happen then.

"What was that about?" Holly grinned and pulled on the starter chip. Trouble could only gasp as a large red spark jumped from the starter chip, snaked up her arm and zapped her in the chest with such force that it threw her over the back of the chair she had been sat in and into the weapon console behind her.

**So I hope you liked that-hello to all new and old readers, thanks for reading this-please review and tell me what you think and I will get the rest of the story up as fast as I possibly can! (Preferably without burning out my computer-_again_!)**

**-Jess-**


	6. Escape

**A.N My God! I thnk I've lost my brain-three chapters in ten minutes! (Lol) and the computer hasn't crashed (I must be getting good at this!) You guys owe me atleast one review! So without further ado...Here it is...**

**NMEC'S, Enjoy.**

**Chapter 5: Escape**

**5 minutes later.**

**9.01am, Flight deck, Icarus.**

"Holly?" The female elf gasped in a massive lungful of air to refill her winded lungs. "Are you alright?" She opened her eyes for the first time since she had been zapped unconscious and wasn't too surprised to find Trouble Kelp leaning over her.

"I think so," she groaned as her shoulder clicked back into place "what happened?"

"Whoever has sabotaged this shuttle thought of that as well, the card was wired up to the internal power system somehow and when you touched it you got 500 volts of pure electricity running through you're body."

"Why am I still alive then?"

"You're body's magic would have combated the electricity like a small army, absorbing into itself and then transporting it back into the main power system."

"So you mean that my magic grabbed hold of this electricity and jumped back into the ships feed?"

"I guess so," Trouble was still trying to figure one thing out though.

"But how could my magic disperse into to the power system, wouldn't that mean that there's magic in there now?"

"That's the thing that I'm still thinking about, there's no way to be sure but I think the magic was used up in the transportation of the electricity so the magic never actually got into the power feed."

"But you still haven't explained how I'm alive, I felt at least three of my ribs snapping before I lost consciousness."

"I used up the rest of my magic healing you," Trouble looked slightly guilty "all of it."

"You used all of you're magic on me?"

"Yes, but there a few things that I couldn't fix with the amount that I had left, we'll have to get Ash to have a look."

"Not Chix though," Holly glared at the green sprite who was hovering a metre off the ground (and considering the dimensions of the shuttle his head was almost brushing the ceiling).

"Why ever not?" Trouble laughed, he was well aware incessant mithering, Holly just scowled at him in return. "Okay, I was joking. Ash was staring at something on the diagnostics panel.

"What is it Ash?"

"Someone's trying to activate the hyper drive."

"But I thought that wasn't functional yet," Trouble ran over to the gas screen that was displaying the information. "D'Arvit, we need to get off this thing-get to the pods Ash, you too Chix, I'll be there in a mo." The other two officers quickly grabbed whatever they had brought with them and ran out into the main corridor, Trouble turned back to Holly.

"Why are these things always so dramatic?" She smiled sadly as he knelt beside her.

"I don't know, I'm going to have to carry you to the pods."

"No, I can walk-"

"But not fast enough, I for one don't want to be on this thing when we crash into the sun."

"Fine," Holly allowed Trouble to pick her up gingerly "you don't have to be so careful with me; I'm an ex-police officer-not a china doll."

"Sorry," he mumbled and started out into the main corridor, they were just in time to see Ash and Chix's behinds disappear around a corner ahead of them. Trouble followed the two fairies and soon found himself in the emergency escape pod hangar room."You two go first, the pods have their own guidance systems so you won't need to steer."

"But what if these have been messed with too?" Chix was looking pale again.

"There's a manual override that shuts down the main computer so that its just you and the engines-and they can't be tampered with because their not connected to the main computer-unlike the engines on the Icarus."

"But what if-" Ash grabbed Chix around the waist and forced him into a pod.

"No more what ifs Chix," Ash said as he jumped into his own pod "you'll jinx it."

"Let's go then shall we?" Troubles brow was creased into a frown-he had not expected this to be easy. Whoever sabotaged the shuttle obviously didn't want them to get away, so why had they left such an obvious escape route un-tampered? His thoughts were answered as he stepped towards the door of an open pod and an alarm blared in the background. "What the heck is that?"

"It's the lockdown alarm," Holly's eyes widened as she realised what was happening "whoever's trying to pilot us to the sun is putting the ship into lockdown."

"And that means that all exterior doors are locked and that includes the pods," Trouble turned back slowly towards Chix and Ash's pods, dreading what he would see. Just as he had feared the doors were sliding closed with mechanical precision.

"Trouble," Holly shouted and he whipped around to see the empty pods door clang shut.

"D'Arvit," he breathed as the control keypad on the far wall smoked and exploded with a loud _pop_. He pulled out his close rang communicator and shouted into it-"Chix, Ash, are you okay?" There was only the buzzing of interference for what seemed like a millennia then a click and a crackling voice broke through the haze.

"_I'm alright_," it was Ash "_but the controls aren't responding, I think that I'm locked in here_."

"Don't panic Ash," Trouble sighed with relief "where's Chix?"

"_I don't think he has his communicator on him but from what I can see through my porthole he's stuck like me_."

"Okay, the controls are blown out on this side but I think that there should be a manual release around here somewhere."

"_But what about you two? How are you going to get off this thing without escape pods_?"

"I don't know, we'll think of something but right now I'm more worried about getting you two to safety first." Trouble scanned the room for the manual pod release lever "hopefully the hyper drive will take a while to boot and that will by us some time to figure out a plan."

"_I'm not usually the one who points out the holes in you're plans but I have to for this one, that whole theory you just said was based on the amount of time that it takes the hyper drive to boot up. I think that with our luck going the way that it is they'll probably be operational right now."_

"Don't say that Ash, have faith."

"_How's faith going to help us?"_

"It won't help at all," Holly said as she pointed at something on the far wall "but that will."

"The manual release," Trouble sat Holly down on the floor and went over to the switch that she had been pointing to. "Are you sure this is it?"

"No, but it's our best bet," Holly propped herself up against the wall "does it have any sort of markings on it?"

"Yeah," Trouble leaned in closer to the switch "a line with a circle through it."

"That's it, flick it." Trouble was still thinking of getting the ships manual as he put his index finger under the little yellow switch and flicked it.

"Did it do anything?" He called back to Holly.

"I don't think s-" There was a grinding creak and all four pods were released from their bays into space. "Their gone."

"Good," Trouble slid down the wall Holly was leaning against "now all I have to worry about is getting you home safely."

"I could say the same to you Trub," she grinned as he grimaced at his brother's pet name "but I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot harder for us to get off so no guarantees."

"Keep you're confidence Holly, we are going to get out of here."

"_Not if I can help it,_" the gas screen that was mounted on the far wall with the diagnostic unit crackled into life "_as long as I'm in control of this ship you won't be going anywhere._"

**E.N Hope you all liked that (please review-I don't bite!) And this is just a warning for all of you guys who have me on your author alerts-I am moving away from just writing AF fan fics and venturing into the wide (and sometimes very scary) world of FF's. But don't worry-I will always remember my roots (no pun intended!) here and you can expect frequent (-ish) updates and new stories (especially because my summer holidays are coming up in 2 weeks) and that will be 7 weeks of free time! (Won't that be scary, XD)**

**Have a great night/day and please review (it would make my day even if all it is is just an XD!)**

**-Jess-**

**P.S What do you guys think of my new username? (For those of you who don't know-or can't remember-it used to Foalys-carrots**


	7. Man In a Mask

**A.N Guess what?!?!?! I'm back (not dead yet!) and I have another chapter, sorry again for the delay but now its the holidays and I should have a heap more stuff for you all to read really soon!**

**So enjoy this (even though its probably the shortest chapter in this story-the prologue) and have a great holiday/week/weekend/day/night/whatever it is wherever you are! NMEC's**

**Chapter 6: Man in a Mask**

**9.46am, Escape pod hangar, The Icarus.**

"Show yourself," Trouble spat at the screen, a dark shape appeared in the view screen.

"_I don't see why I should._"

"We're going to die anyway aren't we?" Holly resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at this whole situation.

"_Okay then, you aren't going to be telling anyone anyway where you're going_." The figure in the picture made a few hand signals at someone who was out of the frame and a light was turned on in the background. The person was now revealed to be a fairy, gnome judging by the size of him, a mask covered most of his face.

"Why don't you show us you're face?" Trouble studied the gnome for something that would identify him.

"_I was just about to,_" The person reached up with a hand and pulled the mask off to reveal-

"Sool!" Holly would have been up and smashing the screen within seconds had she not still been healing, but this didn't stop her swearing.

"_That's a large mouth you have there Captain, I hope you remember who is in control of this shuttle._" As if to demonstrate his point the shuttle flipped once in the air then continued on its course. "_I have the power to kill you both without even moving a finger._"

"Well good for you," Trouble said as he straightened up to his full height "but what the hell do you want with us?"

"_Revenge, sweet revenge._"

"That's all this is?" Holly stormed "Some idiotic gnome's revenge?"

"_Careful Captain,_" The last remark seemed to have stung the former Commander "_it would not be wise to anger me._"

"Okay then, how long have you been planning this for?"

"_Ever since the design papers came through my inbox, why else do you think it's called the _Icarus?" This comment was followed by another torrent of swear words from Holly.

"How long till the hyper drives online?" Trouble tried to make his question sound innocent, like it wasn't the thing that decided if they lived or died.

"_And why would I tell you that my dear Commander_?"

"I want to know how long I have to live so I can cry and say my prayers."

"_Three hours minimum,_" Sool's face actually looked pained.

"What's the matter little Sooly?" Holly taunted "is there a problem?"

"_No, the hyper drives software was never completed though so it has to be finished and uploaded before the shuttle goes anywhere._" Sool grinned again as a thought struck him "_and because it has never been tested before you will either die in transit or die in the centre of the sun, my computer programmer's choice really._"

"And who would that programmer be?"

"_You don't need to know that, the bottom line is that you will die today._"

"Then give us the answer to this question before you go then, why the sun?"

"_The sun is the Earths source of power, the one thing that will never be conquered by man, the same is true for me._"

"You're mental Sool, even if we don't get back to catch you the LEP will in time."

"_And that's what I'm counting on Captain, by the time they find out that it was I behind all this I will be far, far away on a tropical island somewhere drinking champagne and nettle beer._"

"You ba-" Holly started.

"_Goodbye Captain,_" Sool said quickly and cut the connection.

"Yeah, you better go Stool because as soon as I get back I'll be the one tracking you down and I'll be the one who rams their buzz baton up you're-"

"Drop it Captain," Trouble bent down to pick her up "that won't help us at the moment."

"I know it won't help but it does make me feel a whole lot better, what do we do now oh great one?" Trouble grimaced and tried to ignore her "there is nothing we can do right?"

"I'm sorry," Trouble shook his head as he walked on "maybe we'll think of something later."

"And if we don't we're both doomed right?"

"I guess."

"Well I can think of no better person than you to die with Commander," Trouble smiled sadly and stepped out onto the flight deck.

"Neither can I, though I really hope that it doesn't come to that."

**Thanks a bunch for reading this and please take the time to review (little bluey-purpley button down there-noooo! not the power button on the screen!)**

**Be back soon (sooner than you'd expect anyway! lol)**

**-Jess-**


	8. Be Well

**A.N I told you that I'd be back sooner than you thought! Here's the next chapter.**

**Enjoy, NMEC's.**

**Chapter 7: Be well**

**10.34am, Flight deck, The Icarus.**

Holly looked around; her feet crunching on built up ash that caked the floor of the chute. Her breath came short as she saw a figure curled up against the far wall, this was wrong, it was all wrong.

"What about Scalene?" Holly whirled around "He's mesmerised to the gills, he can't look after himself. If we do escape, Opal is not going to leave him around as evidence." The voice had come from over by the blast doors, as her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness two people sprang to life. Her heart beat faster as one of them turned and caught the light to reveal a dull red face-Commander Julius Root. The elf who was supposed to be dead in modern time growled.

"It really tugs my beard to put us in harms way over a goblin, but that's the job. We take Scalene with us then, I want you to sink a few charges into that box round his waist, and when the buzzing stops I'll throw him over my shoulder and then we're off up E37." Holly could only watch as her past self changed the setting on her Neutrino 3000 and ignoring her instinct that this was all a set up, sank six charges into the small screen around Scalene. She felt like shouting out, screaming, when Root grabbed Scalene by the shoulders and the octo-bonds that had bound the box to Scalenes chest let go and whiplashed instead onto Commander Root's chest. She cringed as she heard his ribs snapping under the pressure of the octo-bonds, her past self was standing helplessly at the edge of the proximity trigger zone.

"One minute to live," Opal laughed from the screen "how does that feel?" The numbers on the digital read out began to flick down, mechanical and unfaltering.

"Shut it down Koboi!" She heard her self yell "Shut it down, or I swear I'll……" Opals laughter sounded manacle now.

"You'll do what exactly? Die beside your commander?" Her past self was on the verge of panic now, Holly felt a sickening feeling in her gut-she knew what was coming.

"Go now," Root grunted "Holly, I am ordering you to leave." She fought on stubbornly; she would not leave until this was over.

"I'd listen if I were you," Opal taunted from the screen "There are other lives at stake. Root is already dead-why not save someone who can be saved?"

"What have you done, Opal?" Holly shouted over the noise "What have you done to Artemis and Butler?"

"I'm afraid that I may have put the mud men in a little bit of danger. At this very moment they are on their way back from stealing a package from the International Bank in Munich. I prepared this package for them myself and I couldn't help but put a little present in there for them, just a little bio bomb trace. It will be activated as soon as they open said package and then it will be a case of 'Bye bye, obnoxious humans.' You can either stay here and what for Internal affairs to show up or go and save your friends, your choice." Present day Holly turned her back on the scene, she couldn't watch this. Only a few words got through to her as Opal explained about the sweet shot on the device. It had been a trick, she should have known that from the start-another one of Opal's little schemes to make her feel solely responsible for the commanders imminent death. She heard the shot ring out through the chute, herself shout out that she had hit it.

"I don't know," Koboi's voice was filled with cold laughter "I thought that you were a fraction too low. Bad luck, I mean that sincerely." Her past self screamed, she felt an incredible urge to throw herself on Koboi, punch her pretty little face in. She turned, just before the device reached critical to see Roots defiant face; for once in his life it was void of its usual red tinge.

"Be well," he said and the counter of the device reached zero as a bright orange flame blossomed in the centre of his chest.

The explosion was huge; it sucked the air from the tunnel, using the oxygen contained within it to grow larger and faster. Multicoloured flames rolled like leaves in the wind. Her past self was thrown against the wall as the microfilaments in her suit were overloaded with heat and force. Holly watched as her past self fired up the retractable wings on her back and took off up the chute, she collapsed to the ground as soon as she was gone. To her surprise she was not harmed by the explosion, when the ash and smoke cleared the scene was deathly quite. Holly pulled herself to her feet and was surprised to see the blast doors slide open-Koboi had rigged them to do that, no wonder everyone thought that she had murdered her commander.

"Clear," a familiar voice said as a group of black clad commandos streamed into the chute, the elf on point took of his helmet "any trace of life?"

"None Trub," Grub Kelp approached his brother with a scanner held high "there's nothing living in here."

"Where did they go then Corporal?" Trouble demanded as he paced nervously "lets get back to base, we're no help out here."

"You don't belong here," a voice echoed sadly around the chute as the officers left "neither do I."

"Julius?" holly gasped as she turned to face the recently deceased elf "how…..what…I."

"It's a long story Holly, one that I don't have time to explain right now," the ex-commander smiled slightly and waved her over with a hand.

"Why are you here then? How can you be here then?"

"That doesn't matter at the moment, I don't have much time here so I have to make this quick," Commander Root sat down lightly on the ground, "take a seat." Holly obliged and sat next to the elf, she kept her distance from him though-maybe she was hallucinating.

"The last time I saw you, you were a Captain, a good one at that," Root grinned as he remembered a few of there earlier adventures "but look at you now, a Major in Section 8 and one of the most well known elves in all of Haven."

"Is this why you came? To sit here and chat?"

"No," the old elf admitted "I came because I know that you're in a situation at this moment and you seem to have given up hope."

"So what if I have?" Holly asked "no disrespect, but why are you here?"

"I'm here because I swore to you're father that I would protect you if anything happened to him. I came to tell you that you must never give up hope, sometimes you just have to stop everything and stand back-turn off you're problems in a way."

"Can you drop stop talking in riddles Commander?" Holly growled "I don't have time to decipher such messages today."

"The message is quite clear Holly, you just have to open you're eyes a little wider to the possibilities."

"We're you a teacher in a previous life?" Holly grinned slightly "you sound like you've been saying these things all you're life."

"In a way I have," sadness returned to Roots eyes "I have to go now Holly; all I can say is consider my advice and be well."

"Are you sure you have to go?" She wished now that she hadn't been so harsh with her mentor "the conversation was just starting to pick up."

"Goodbye Holly, I'll see you again-but hopefully not too soon." The Commander grinned as he stood up and dusted off his jumpsuit "go back to Commander Kelp and tell him that I said hello."

"I'll tell him that," she whispered as her vision started to lighten and she became aware of her real surroundings "goodbye."

"By the way," Root was but a shadow in her vision now "check my will when you get back to Earth, you may be pleasantly surprised." There was a flash of blinding light as he disappeared completely and she came to in the real world with a shout.

Trouble Kelp had been leaning against the navigation console on the flight deck when Holly's eyes flew open and she set his heart going a hundred miles an hour with a shout.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he knelt beside her "you were having a nightmare, should I have woken you up?"

"No," Holly said as she wiped away a few tears that had cleared her eyes "I might have a solution to our problem."

"Really? How did you think of one while you were asleep?"

"This may sound crazy but Commander Root told me."

"And what was this plan," He decided to tell her that she was crazy when they got back to Earth.

"Its pretty radical, actually, it's about as radical as you can possibly get with out blowing this hunk of junk up."

"And are you going to tell me what this plan is?"

"I'll tell you when I've checked a few things, what I will say now is you will have to trust me on this one."

"Don't I always?" Trouble grinned as he tried to ignore his sense of foreboding-whatever this plan was he could tell that he wasn't going to like it.

**E.N Thanks for reading this-it makes my day!**

**So please review and I would really appraciate any ideas for a few more stories because I have a lot of time and nothing to do! (the exact opposite of what I usually have!)**

**Thanks again,**

**-Jess-**


	9. Free Fall

**A.N Merry Christmas! Here's the next chapter!**

**NMEC's, Enjoy.**

**Chapter 8:**

**Free-Fall**

**11:45 Engine Room, The Icarus.**

"What are you doing?" Trouble shouted over the noise of the engine room "why are we in here?"

"I said my plan was radical-I wasn't joking," Holly slid out from under one of the engine turbines she had been fiddling with. "As you know Sool is in **all **of the computer systems and the electrics. If we can find a way to take control of the shuttle manually he won't be able to stop us, the only problem is that Foaly has taken the idea of technology to an all new level in here and there is hardly a manual component to this shuttle in sight."

"So what exactly are you doing if we have no hope?"

"Don't be so glum Trub," Holly wiped her hands on her trousers and walked over to an ominous looking switch. "There is one way to take control of this shuttle; it was just so extreme that we never thought of it."

"May I remind you that that little switch that you are standing next to is the master control switch – the one that turns **everything **off."

"So?"

"You're nuts! If you switch that off we will lose total control – not even Sool will be able to stop us from crashing in to the Earth."

"That is exactly what I want to happen;" the elf lay a finger on the switch as Trouble started forward "don't you see? It's the only possible way to avoid a collision with the sun – which option would you rather take?-Burnt to death by the sun or crashing into the Earth but possibly surviving."

"You know what my answer would be, how do you plan to keep us being crushed to death when we hit the Earth? How do you plan to keep the mud men from noticing us? How do you know that Sool hasn't already thought of this and planned ahead?" Trouble shouted his questions, accenting every word.

"The flight deck is reinforced for such crashes; there is an almost never ending supply of impact gel in-"

"That is if the impact gel actually fires which all depends on wether or not Sool took control of the safety protocols," the Commander burst out.

"They will work-Foaly thought about that, as for the mud men, I plan to crash land the shuttle in the ocean-maybe the Atlantic, somewhere near a shuttle port but far enough away that there will be no human eyes around to see us."

"How do you know that you will be able to steer? How do you know that we won't crash land in the middle of London?" Trouble said sceptically, although he was starting to give in-there was no other way out of this.

"If I can position the nose cone into place with flaps only then we should go in a straight line towards wherever I decide to go. But if we do end up heading for a mud man city like London I'm sure that Foaly will blow us out of the sky before we're seen, Sool will not have thought of this-I would bet my life on it-he thinks basically, inside the square-he would think that we did not have enough guts to shut the engines off."

"Maybe he thought we would have more brains than to even consider it!"

"Oh shut up, if you really want me to prove that Sool hasn't thought of this then I will," Holly paused, muttered a few curse words in gnomish and flicked the switch. "See! He didn't think of it," the engines were powering down, the noise level dropped to a dull whine as the lights switched to flashing amber-the shuttle was reverting to the safety protocols.

"I told you that Foaly had thought of the protocols!" Holly laughed and dragged Trouble from the room towards the flight deck "I'll explain later, but right now I suggest that we strap ourselves down because this is going to make core diving seem like nothing."

"Great," Trouble said as he sat in the co-pilots chair and began strapping on the crash webbing that was standard issue in every shuttle "I came for a quite little mission and what did I get? A death threat and a mother of all rollercoaster ride, it must be my birthday."

"Stop whinging and brace yourself, we're going down," Holly pointed at a meter on the monitor panel; it was indeed beginning to drop towards zero. "Is there anything else that you wanted to say before we go back to Earth? You have five seconds to say it."

"It's been a great honour serving with you and I would like to know if you would come back to the LEP? You could be my second in command-a major if you liked-you could have as many field missions as you want and-"

"It sounds great Trouble," Holly grinned "I would love to come back as long as I don't have to use the recon coffee machine-that stuff is horrible."

"Great! Welcome back to the LEP then, I'll give you you're badge when we get home-if we get home." Trouble paused and looked over at his friend for maybe the last time "I just want you to know that I love-the idea of you coming back to your old job, we missed you on our world saving missions." Holly frowned; she thought he was going to say something else there for a moment.

"Of course," she smiled softly then glanced back at the counter on the monitor panel "here we go! Hold onto your breakfast because I don't want to have to clean up in here when we get back."

"I didn't eat breakfast and I get the feeling that if we survive this there won't be much of this crate left to clean anyway."

"Too right," Holly paused then clasped his hand in hers "goodbye Trouble."

And with that the Icarus began its uncontrolled drop to the Earth; straight into the field of one of Foaly's monitoring satellites.

**E.N I don't mind if I don't get a Christmas present from everyone but I'd love a review (their better than presents in my opinion!)**

**-Jess-**


	10. Gravity n' Other Annoying Laws of Motion

**Author's Note: **I just thought I'd put up the rest of the chapters for those of you who want to read them. This story is **VERY OLD**, I wrote this when I was thirteen. Please keep this in mind while reading and excuse any mistakes (my primary school never taught us any grammar rules – yep, stupid – and I've tried to teach myself everything since then)

**The rest of this is dedicated to AlwaysInTheDark (**happy birthday for next year**) and ian (**Sorry for leaving this for two years!**) Thank you also to everyone who has reviewed this story on any site it has been put up on. Your support means a lot to me.**

**Chapter 9:**

**Gravity and other Annoying Laws of Motion**

**11:53 (5 minutes before The Icarus passes monitoring satellite) Operations Booth, LEP Headquarters, Police Plaza.**

"You've got to be joking!" Foaly coughed as he spat half-eaten carrot across his keyboard "I'd never thought that they'd get that far!"

"Its true, sir" Foaly's lab assistant said as his boss continued to choke "the Icarus has reached the outer limits of our atmosphere-their going into space!"

"What the heck are they doing out there?" Foaly asked absently as he ran his hands ran expertly across his keyboard, swiping bits of carrot off at the same time as typing "they were only supposed to go into the outer atmosphere."

"I dunno boss, it's as if-" Roob stopped and pulled a communicator from his lab coat pocket "yes?" The gnome listened for a moment then stuffed the communicator back into his pocket with a shocked look on his face "you might want to take a look at the news, sir."

"This better be serious Roob," the centaur whinnied as he pressed a few keys "I have some important work to do today." Suddenly Foaly was confronted with screens upon screens of news reporters all waving at the sky.

"This does seem serious then," he muttered as he quickly shut off all of the windows but one-CNN.

"….Yes, its been confirmed-there was no cometary activity planned for tonight but if we take a look at the sky there is an obvious tail of…" the news reporter put her hand to her earpiece and scowled "…something and an object at its origin moving quickly across the sky at a decreasing angle." The camera's view switched to the so called 'comet'. "NASA says that there is no need to be alarmed but if you are anywhere near where it impacts, if it does impact, you **must** ring the emergency services and stay away from the crash site-"

"D'Arvit," Foaly swore and turned to yet another computer screen "this is all I need-and today of all days!" He sent Roob scurrying from the room as he waited for the satellite he wanted to come into range. The satellite (designation FC2-0879) that he was waiting for was one of his own, it was designed to monitor, follow and destroy space debris that got too close to the Earth-it had come in handy on many occasions. Foaly swore again when the satellite came back into range and a torrent of video boxes began to popup all over the monitor.

"Is there a problem Foaly?" Vinyaya asked as she leant against the crowded workbench behind him. Foaly jumped and tried to regain his composure-he hadn't even heard her come in.

"I don't know Wing-Commander," he started and Vinyaya immediately knew that something was wrong-he would never have been so formal in normal circumstances. "I was just checking up on a small situation aboveground."

"Don't lie to me Foaly; you were always hopeless at lying anyway."

"Truly Vinyaya, I have no idea what's going on up there, it's only a little comet-I don't see why everyone is so upset." Foaly looked up when he realised that the elf had suddenly gone very quite "what's the matter with you now?"

"Foaly," Vinyaya began at the same time as reaching for the emergency button on his desk "if that is a comet then I am a mud man." The centaur looked up as alarm bells began to ring throughout the complex.

"What do you mean?" He spluttered, zooming in on the object in question "I don't see anything unusual about-is that what I think it is?" Vinyaya nodded slightly as she spoke rapidly into her communicator, whoever was on the other end was determined to do the exact opposite of what she requested.

"Phobie right?" Vinyaya interrupted the sprites rant about security protocols and rank pulling "shut up and put Frond on."

"Why should I?" The now enraged sprite shouted down the line, so loud that Foaly could hear her without straining his ears (or using the bug he had planted in his commanders communicator) "Frond is no better than I am; this is police brutality-discrimination against female sprites, sexism."

"Phobie, I have no time left to argue with you-put Frond on before I'm forced to come down to reception myself and boot you out the front doors." There was a pause then Phobie slammed her phone down against the front desk and stormed off to find Lili Frond.

"Um, commander-about this darned comet-is it just me or is it actually one of the Icarus' escape pods?"

"You tell me Foaly, you were the one who built the thing," Vinyaya scowled then left the room as her communicator began to buzz again.

"Oval in shape," Foaly whispered to himself as he manipulated the image on his screen "metal in composition-possibly titanium, aerodynamic design, distinctive tail and jet stream." The computer he was working at gave a series of beeps as the image enlarged, sharpened and focused; Foaly gasped ad added one last item to his distinctive features list. "Outspread wing emblem on right side, triple acorns and section eight print in the centre-escape pod, origin The Icarus."

"Was it a problem boss?" Roob entered the room tentatively. He was all too aware how unpredictable the centaur could be.

"What do you think Roob? Would I be close to bashing my head against the desk if it was just a comet?"

"No sir," Roob dug his hands deeper into his pockets and tried to get a look at the monitors over Foaly's shoulder "what did it turn out to be?"

"It's an escape pod from a mission that I launched this morning-The Icarus-"

"You mean that multi-billion dollar space shuttle thing that was going to have its first test flight today?"

"Yes, that one," Foaly turned back to his computers, he didn't want to talk to a lab assistant at that moment in time-he obviously didn't take the hint "you can go now Roob."

"Oh, of course sir," the white coated gnome turned to leave then stopped, his eye caught on one of the monitors that displayed footage from a satellite orbiting over the Atlantic ocean.

"Get out of here before I lose all the self restraint that I have left at the moment and forget that we're not allowed to kill employees."

"I was just going to ask if that was normal sir," Roob pointed a finger at a large metallic object that was filling the screen completely "but I don't think you really care at the moment."

"If what is normal Roob?" Foaly asked sceptically, maybe it was time for him to get a new lab assistant-someone who didn't disobey his every word.

"Wether or not its normal for a hunk of space junk to be passing one of your permanent monitoring satellites?"

"What the hell are you talking about Roob?" Foaly spat as he swivelled in his chair to get a look at the monitor his assistant was standing by.

"I was-"

"That's no hunk of junk you idiot," Foaly gasped as a fin swept past across the screen, its silver logo flashing in the earth's reflection "that's the Icarus!"


	11. Deep Impact

**Author's Note: Here's more! (Yeah, this has been finished for quite a while….my airbrained thirteen year old self forgot to update it….I think…I can't really remember!)**

**Chapter 10:**

**Deep Impact**

**12:00 The Icarus, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, Earth.**

It can be said that every field officer in the LEP has been in at least one crash in their lifetime. For Commander Trouble Kelp this was more than true, infact he had been in thirty-five crashes to date (he was trailing Holly's record by five) and had always said that he after a while they were all the same. Head ons, wrap arounds, shuttle meets a tunnel wall, wheelie bike meets crazed gnome driving pizza delivery van-just about everything, all the same in the end. ('You can only crack your skull open and get whiplash so many times before it starts to get predictable.') But he had to admit that this crash was the stand out in his career.

******

**12:03 Emergency Services Shuttle Base, Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean.**

"Quite today Pat," the chubby gnome leant back from his workstation and propped his feet up on his keyboard "not even a false alarm."

"If you ask me it's too quite Ronnie," the elf named Pat stood to refill his cup of sim-coffee "it must be the LEP's day off."

"They never have a day off," Ronnie swirled the dregs of his coffee around the bottom of his mug as he thought "wasn't there supposed to be some sort of launch on today?"

"Yeah, that mad centaur is up to his usual tricks," Pat handed his colleague the coffee pot as he walked back to his desk, shaking his head "I get the feeling something really big is going to happen really soon-and its going to have something with that launch."

"Stop being so superstitious, I've never heard of a rule that says something has to be an emergency every day." Ronnie scratched an eyebrow absently as he downed his new cup of coffee.

"You didn't read the manual did you?" Pat called up the daily systems check as he talked "It was near the end, in all the stuff about legal liabilities and stuff."

"You having me on now, I actually did read the manual this time and there was no such section in it." Ronnie swung his feet down off his desk and walked over to the only window in the control room "nice afternoon, do you reckon we'll be able to rack off early tonight? There's a crunchball match on today-Haven verses Atlantis semi finals."

"Who are you going for in that one then?" Pat swung himself round on his swivel chair and dragged Ronnie's chair over to rest his feet on.

"Atlantis, definitely," a glaze covered Ronnie's eyes and he launched into his usual lecture "even though they've lost Birch to a busted lung I'm sure that their going to win this time round-"

"If you're going for Atlantis then I'm going for Haven, and I think I'll bet on it this time as well," Pat pulled out his wallet to see how much gold he had left after his latest spending spree "I'll put a fifty on them I think; maybe I might be able to pull out a seventy-five."

"Why is it that you always go for the team that I'm not going for?"

"Because, Ronnie mate I hate to break this to you, but you are _the _worst gambler in the world-and under," Pat ducked as a coffee cup was hurled at his head.

"That isn't fair!" Ronnie wailed "I bet right once."

"Once in a million," Pat put his hands up defensively as Ronnie turned purple in his rage "watch it mate, no throwing things around in here-we may get an alert at any time."

"Does that include throwing you out the window?"

"It should do-" Pat was interrupted by an urgent beeping on one of the computer consoles, he sprang to his feet and ripped a readout from one of the laser printers "it's an alert-probably a false alarm." Just as he said that another alarm went off, and another and another until the noise level was almost unbearable.

"Or maybe not," Ronnie shouted over the noise as he plugged his ears with his fingers "I think this could be an actual emergency!"

"Right," Pat punched an ominous looking red button on one of the consoles then dashed over to what seemed to be a more high tech version of a fireman's pole "suit up Ronnie, we got ourselves a live one."

******

**12:09 The Icarus, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, Earth.**

Commander Trouble Kelp woke, that was a miracle in itself. The first thing that he felt like doing when he woke was throwing up but he didn't even have the energy to do that. After a while he managed to crank open one eye, he shut it as soon as sunlight, bright and clear, blasted his retinas. With a groan he opened it again and sat up slowly wincing as the vertebrae in his back and neck grated and slipped. A yellow gel filled the room. That was good-it meant the canisters had fired their load of impact gel as they should have. His eyes widened suddenly as he examined the shuttle closer-it was completely intact. After a drop from space it would have been a surprise if the reinforced flight deck had survived, never mind the whole shuttle. Then he noticed it, blue sparks running across the hull of the Icarus, straightening out pressure creases and putting out spot fires. On closer inspection still there seemed to be red sparks melded into the blue, the ships electricity had bonded itself with Holly's magic……Holly? Trouble spun his head around as fast as he could without becoming a paraplegic and searched the cockpit for the major. She was sprawled across the weapons console behind her chair, the crash webbing that had been keeping her in her seat had been frayed and tore under the pressure pulling on it before the impact gel had been fired. Gingerly Trouble pulled a small knife from his boot and cut himself free of his crash webbing, struggling slightly against the impact gel that flooded the room he waded his way over to Holly. The first thing that he noticed when he drew near her was the sheer paleness of her face. Wrapping his arm around her back he moved to haul her from the console when he noticed something warm and wet that was running down her back and across his fingers. Removing his hand he found it coated in blood and quickly pulled her from the gas screen that she had become lodged in to the floor, rolling her over as he pulled a pressure bandage from a pocket on his utility belt. It was worse than he had thought, it had now become apparent that she had been impaled by the fractured gas screen and more than one deep wound was now bleeding profusely.

"Hang in there Holly," he whispered as he covered the wounds with the bandage and tried to stem the blood flow "it's going to be alright." He could feel his own life slipping between his fingers but all that mattered at the moment was Holly. If she died and he lived he would never be able to forgive himself, he would rather die with her.

"T-Trouble," he must be hallucinating, creating voices to comfort himself "Trub?"

"Holly?" Trouble quickly pulled the elf into his lap, remembering to keep pressure on the wounds in her back.

"I'm dying, aren't I?" Her eyes were dull, skin cold "don't lie to me."

"No, you'll be fine-just stay with me," Trouble felt completely helpless for the first time in his life, his hand shook as he cleared a few locks of hair from her face "the emergency services people will be here soon, just don't give up."

"Don't lie to me, I know that I'm going," she took a deep, shuddering breath and continued "just promise me something."

"Anything, I'll promise you anything," he could feel tears, warm and thick, pooling in his eyes.

"Keep going when I'm gone," Holly could feel tears in her own eyes "don't give up, never give up. Haven needs heroes like you, don't just fall to bits over this-I've seen that look in your eyes before on suicidal widows just before they jump into a magma flare-your worth more, I'll see you again in the end anyway."

"But Holly, life isn't worth living without you I-I can't go on without you," the tears were running down his cheeks now.

"Why?" Holly used the last of her strength to reach up and wipe the tears from his face.

"Because……because I'd miss you too much," Holly could see the lie in his eyes, he was avoiding something.

"I've known you too long to know when you're not telling the truth-the absolute truth-who am I going to tell anyway?" She laughed slightly and regretted it when she had to stop to cough.

"Your right," Trouble admitted as he leant her forward to pat her back "I'm not telling the whole truth because I'm afraid."

"You're afraid of what?" Holly turned to face her Commander and saw the truth shining through his eyes.

"I'm afraid that I love you," he grimaced and turned his face away from Holly's widening eyes "sorry, I didn't mean to blurt it out like that-just forget that I said it, I shouldn't have-"

"I love you as well," she grinned elfishly and cupped his face in her hand, turning it back towards her "I wasn't sure until now, I couldn't quite track down what the feeling was but now I realise, I love you."

"You do?" Trouble's eyes widened in surprise "you don't need to say that because-"

"I mean it, why would I lie?" She was drawing closer; her eyes had regained their usual spark.

"Well then, that's all the more reason not to give up just yet, you'll be fine-just hang on a little longer," although he sounded confident he could feel the doubt clouding in his heart-he knew she wasn't going to make it out of this one.

"Now it's you that's lying-though I have one last wish," Holly was close enough for him to smell now, almost close enough to-

"What?" Trouble whispered, afraid of what she might say.

"This," she reached up and wrapped a hand around the back of his head, bringing him down towards her. Their lips met as electricity spread through his body, he gasped and pulled back.

"What's the matter?" Holly asked, her eyes had dulled again and Trouble could feel her hand slipping from his hair.

"Nothing, that was just…..indescribable," he laughed sadly and leant down to kiss her again.

There was something wrong, Trouble pulled back from her lips and noticed that Holly's eyes were closed.

"Holly?" He whispered as he shook her by the shoulders "Holly?" There was no response so he wedged his fingers under her jaw, there was nothing. Quickly he grabbed up her wrist and covered it with two of his fingers, searching frantically for the pulse that he had failed to find in her neck, there was none. He placed his ear over her chest and listened intently, there was no noise, no movement-she was gone.

Trouble collapsed back onto the floor, his vision slowly turning black as a continuous whining noise took up residence in his ears. There was nothing worth living for now; nothing would ever be able to replace her. As he took one last look at the outside world through the windscreen he could have sworn that he saw a silver streak breech the horizon and float lazily across the sky in his direction. But then again he thought as he lost consciousness it was probably just his imagination-no one would be able to help him now.


	12. Fallen Angel

**Author's note: MOAAUUHHH (translation: MORE!!!)**

**Chapter 11:**

**Fallen Angel**

**12:18pm Ops Booth, Police Plaza, Haven **

"Where am I?" Corporal Chix Verbil levered himself up onto one elbow as the emergency pod's door slid open with a hiss.

"You're in Haven's shuttle port Chix," whinnied Foaly as he bowed his head and stepped carefully into the small confines of the escape pod.

"What am I doing here?"

"Good question, I was about to ask you the exact same thing," Foaly pulled out a palm pilot from his coat pocket and began to navigate through its program list. "But from what I can deduce you separated from the Icarus at nine sixteen and flew straight down to Tara-might I say that that wasn't a very good idea-where you were picked up by a stealth cruiser and towed down here. Now what the hell happened up there and why is the Icarus now on a crash course with Earth?"

"What?" Chix moaned in his half conscious state "why don't you ask Ash these question's, he would know the answers."

"We would ask Captain Vein but he was knocked out when he splash landed in the Pacific Ocean-a much better landing place than yours was might I add. So right now you're going to have to concentrate and answer my questions before I'm forced to pull out a buzz baton!"

"Okay, okay," Chix held up his hands defensively and waited for the centaur to calm down before he lowered them again "the shuttle got taken over by somebody and we lost control of everything. The commander and Holly got left behind because they got locked out of the emergency escape pods; I think they must have used the manual override to launch the pods."

"Do you know who was behind this; did you get any clues at all?" Foaly was frantic now "you have to tell me Chix-was there anything at all?"

"No, they never told us who they were," the sprite frowned and flared his wings "they must have been a very good computer programmer though to get through all of your firewalls and stuff."

"You're absolutely sure that there was nothing?" Foaly reached out and started shaking Chix's shoulders "this could all depend on your answer."

"There was nothing and I suggest you calm down before you crumple my wings," Chix scowled as Foaly shook him even harder.

"I think that's enough from you now, get down to the infirmary and make sure that you don't have a concussion or something-all though I'm sure that it would make no difference what so ever."

"Right oh boss man," Chix heaved himself up and walked towards the door but before he got there he paused and turned around "do you know if they're all right? Trubs and Holly?"

"To tell you the truth Chix I have no idea," Foaly rested his head in his palms "they've been lucky on every other mission but I think that they might have just run out of luck."

"I'm sure they'll be fine, maybe just a little fracture or something-nothing big, they won't be dead, or in coma's or-" a medic ran up and took Chix by the arm and led him away before he could continue, but for Foaly it was already too late. What if they were dead? They were unlikely to survive-either of them-and even if they did who's to say that they wouldn't be paralyzed or brain dead? How would he live if that happened?

"Hu-Hu," Foaly's train of thought was interrupted by a small cough by the doorway; he looked up to see none other than Wing-Commander Vinyáya looking down at him.

"What do you want Commander?" Foaly growled.

"Sorry for interrupting you Foaly but I wanted to know if you were alright?" Vinyáya took a step closer and knelt beside the centaur "I was walking past and you seemed to be quite upset."

"Why would I be?" Foaly stamped his back hooves angrily "my best friend is probably floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean-dead- and I can do nothing about it! No Commander, why would I be upset?"

"Maybe now isn't the best time to talk but wouldn't you be of more use up in the ops booth?" Vinyáya examined her communicator for a moment then continued "the emergency surface teams have been called out-it's the Icarus." Before Foaly could ask anymore questions Vinyáya had disappeared around the corner and left him alone. Foaly pulled out his own communicator and quickly hacked into his operating systems up in the ops booth, Vinyáya had been right. At twelve o' five Ascension Island emergency base had received a distress signal from the Icarus somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Three shuttles had been dispatched to the site and had found…..One critically injured unconscious male elf and…..Information censored, please enter clearance level one pass code to continue. Foaly was a clearance level one but he had never bothered to memorize the pass code (it was stored as a short cut on his own computer in ops) so he would have to get back to the ops booth to find the code.

"Hey Foaly!" Lili Frond was running down the corridor towards him "have you heard what's happened to the Icarus yet? It's all over the news."

"No I haven't heard what's happened Frond and I don't really care either-I don't have the time for this," Foaly moved to barge past the Corporal but she held her ground.

"The emergency crew just arrived up top, they've launched one of their supersonic cruisers down-something big has happened. Their going to be here in less than two minutes," Frond's usually perfectly place hair looked suddenly disheveled and her composure had broken like glass "you don't think they could be dead, could they?"

"Impossible," Foaly said but he was already craned over his communicator as he searched for the quickest route to the other side of the Tara shuttle port where the emergency craft were kept.

"That's good," Lili straightened her uniform "for a moment there I thought that it might have been serious-like a disaster or something."

"This is bigger than a disaster Frond," Foaly pushed her out of his path with his forearm and charged down the corridor to a fire exit off to the left. When he was through that he galloped down what seemed like an endless maze of corridors until he reached a keycard locked door. Quickly he drew out his swipe card and shoved it into its slot, there was an affirmative sounding beep and the door slid open-Foaly didn't bother to retrieve his card before he jumped through the door and into the emergency services side of the port.

This side of the Tara shuttle port had been specially modified to the needs of the emergency crews-it feeds directly into Haven General Hospital, Police Plaza and Haven Central Fire Station. In times of an emergency from the surface the port can either receive or launch shuttles quicker than any other port on or under the surface. The largest emergency that the port had ever faced was the Port Davidson Nuclear explosion of '84 that killed three LEP officers and seriously wounded five others. They had all been transported down to Tara (even those who had passed on) in under seven minutes which was an amazing record by itself never mind the fact that they saved the lives of everyone who had survived the blast. This emergency was slightly different but it still had the same effect. Foaly watched in amazement as a sleek black shuttle shot into a landing bay and come top a stop two meters away from the end barrier. Fairies came running out from every possible hiding space and set about their jobs like a hive of bees. From the corner of his eye Foaly noticed a group of warlocks emerge from a red door marked Haven General and run towards the shuttle as they struggled to get their gloves and coats on. A medic ran out from the shuttle to meet them and whispered frantically into the head warlock's ear. The shock was evident on his face and he quickly explained to his companions what the medic had said. Foaly caught the words 'no hope' 'dead on impact' and 'ten percent chance of survival.' His breath caught in his throat as the warlocks entered the shuttle and came out a few seconds later with a stretcher. They disappeared through the door to Haven General before Foaly could ask get a good look at who was on the stretcher but he knew that whoever it was very near to death. He heard a distant voice shout for a defibrillator as a second stretcher was brought out-there was a sheet over the body that lay there.

"Excuse me?" one of the medics had come over to Foaly "do you need any help?" The medic's face was white as a sheet and his jumpsuit was soaked through with blood but he seemed alright.

"I'm Foaly, chief technician for the LEP," Foaly pulled out his ID card and shoved it under the medic elf's nose "I need to know what happened to our officers."

"Let's go sit down over there," the elf pointed to a row of seats against the far wall "then I'll tell you the whole story." Foaly trotted numbly over to the seats behind the elf something told him that his life was about to be turned on its head.

"We got the call at twelve o' five as you probably already know," the medic took a deep breath and continued "when we arrived at the crash site we go t a surprise. The shuttle, the Icarus that is was completely intact-not a scratch on it; it should have been smashed to bits."

"Did you find out why it was intact?" Foaly interrupted.

"No, we didn't stick around very long because of what we found in there," the medic was now looking decidedly green as he stopped and bowed his head.

"What did you find?" Foaly cued after a while although he had a feeling that he already knew.

"A mess," the medic said simply "we found a male elf-the Commander-barely alive and unconscious clinging to the Captain."

"And she was-"

"Dead," the elf sat beside Foaly stared at the blood on his hands "I tired to resuscitate her, we had the defibrillator right against her heart but it was useless. The blood loss was too much, even when I was blocking it, we lost her."

"Holly's gone….that's, that's impossible," Foaly knew it was true but he couldn't believe it "she always pulled through, she can't be."

"I'm so sorry," the medic straightened and stood up "I have to go to the debriefing now."

"What was your name? I think I've forgotten," Foaly stood with the elf and wiped his eyes.

"I never told you it," the medic smiled "my name's Patrick, Pat for short."

"Nice to meet you Pat although I wish it could have been under better circumstances," there were still tears rolling down Foaly's cheeks as he went back to the door he had hurried through to retrieve his swipe card.

"Me too," Pat waved as he disappeared through the Haven General entrance door and turned left "if you want to know where you officer is he's in room 01 in the critical condition wing, it's a right from here and follow the signs."

"Thanks Pat, I have a feeling we'll meet again sometime," Foaly shook his head as he turned right and wound his way through the maze of corridors and patient rooms that was Haven General until he got to room 01. The room was empty apart from a guard who was dismissed with one swipe of Foaly's hand. Foaly approached the bed cautiously, afraid of what he may or may not see. He picked up the chart from the end of the bed and sat down in a visitor's chair as he read it. Burns to thirty five percent of his body, head trauma, blood loss, collapsed heart valve and a compressed lung-it didn't look good-chance of survival, ten percent. Foaly couldn't stand it, he had already lost one friend today he wasn't about to lose another.

"Trouble," Foaly stepped over to where the Commander lay and placed a hand on his uncovered forearm "I don't know if you can hear me but if you can I need you to pull through this. I can't bear to lose two in one day, not you and….and…..it's just too much, I think I would go mad if that happened." Foaly paused and studied the elf's face; he looked peaceful in his sleep, as if nothing in the world could affect him.

"Just pull through, alright?" Foaly imagined his friend's response, it would be somewhere along the lines of 'when have I ever failed to pull through?'

"Why wouldn't I pull through Foaly?" A voice asked, Trouble's voice-maybe Foaly was hallucinating now. "Foaly?"

"Great, now I'm imagining things," Foaly chuckled half-heartedly and turned to leave.

"Foaly! Don't go," A hand shot out from under the bedcovers and grabbed Foaly by the wrist.

"Trouble?" Foaly turned to the elf that was holding his wrist "you're alive!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Trouble squinted at Foaly and frowned "have you been crying Foaly?"

"Do you feel alright?" Foaly asked, trying to change the subject.

"Why have you been crying?" Trouble persisted with his questioning "what happened?"

"You were on the Icarus, it crashed," Foaly began simply.

"I know that," Trouble propped himself up on one elbow but dropped back almost immediately when he was swamped with pain "I meant what happened after that?"

"You were pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean by Ascension Island's emergency services crew and brought down here."

"That makes sense, I think," Trouble frowned as he tried to concentrate "what's wrong with me and…what happened to….Holly?" His eyes opened in shock as he remembered the last moments before he had passed out.

"I'm sorry Trouble, she was beyond help," Foaly felt tears welling in his eyes "she was gone before they got to her."

"So she's….dead," Trouble bit his lip as tears ran down his face "there was nothing that they could do?"

"No, nothing," Foaly could see that there had been something more than just a working relationship between the Commander and his Captain, it was all too clear now "I'm so sorry Trouble."

"It's alright Foaly, I knew that she was going-there was just nothing that I could do," Trouble lay back and sighed.

"So she-"

"Excuse me sir," there was a nurse stood by the door holding a tray that contained a few vials and syringes "but the Commander shouldn't be awake yet, his body needs time to recover he needs to be sedated."

"That's fine with me nurse…." Foaly had stepped back from the bed.

"Malorey," the nurse flashed him a kindly smile and continued "Malorey Hutchkins, you can stay with the Commander if you like."

"Thank you Malorey," Foaly sat back down in the visitor's chair he had been in before "I appreciate it."

"That's okay; relax now Commander," Malorey was now leant over Trouble with the needle in one hand and another vial in the other "this is going to take two shots."

"Fine with me," Trouble muttered and lay back against the pillows behind his head "promise me one thing though Foaly."

"What would that be?" Foaly leant in to hear Trouble's answer as Malorey injected the contents of the first needle.

"Make sure that they don't carry out the recycling ceremony until I'm out of here," Trouble's eyes clouded and he lost consciousness as the contents of the second vial entered his bloodstream.

"I will Trouble, I will," Foaly dragged his chair across to the hospital bed and rested his head in his hands as the tears that had been waiting to be shed began to fall.


	13. Life and Death

**Author's note: Yay, a funeral =D**

**Chapter 12:**

Life and Death

**One week later, Apartment 63 Haven City Boulevard, Haven City.**

Commander Trouble Kelp examined himself in the full-length mirror that hung from his wardrobe door. Carefully he adjusted his tie and wiped a few tears from his cheek, he would never get over her death, ever. Today was the recycling ceremony; Foaly had been true to his word and organised for it to happen two days after Trouble's release from hospital.

"Are you ready?" Wing-Commander Vinyáya had been waiting in his living room for the past half-hour as he showered and dressed. It was only because she had dragged him out of bed that morning and forced him to get ready that he was going.

"I think I am," Trouble picked up the bouquet of frangipanis and roses that he had bought the other day and stepped out of his bedroom "do I have to go? I was going to visit when the crowds had gone away."

"You have to come, not just because you were her commanding officer but because she would want you there," Vinyáya opened the front door and pushed him out into the street "think about that for a moment."

"I already have," Trouble pulled his dress uniform jacket closer "if anything I've thought about that too much."

"Well then, you should understand what I'm trying to get at," Vinyáya combed her silvery hair through her fingers and organised it around her pointed ears "you have too much to live for Kelp, don't throw it all away because of this. That reminds me, when are you going to come back to work? It's starting to get boring without you around to tease."

"I don't know, maybe I won't come back," Trouble turned his face down and scuffed his boots against the sidewalk.

"You cannot seriously be considering that!" Vinyáya shouted "haven't you been listening to a single word that I've said over this past week?"

"Of course I have, I just don't think I'd be able to cope if I went back," Trouble wiped his eyes again and looked up "I think the LEP would be better off if they didn't have me as their Commander."

"That's a lie and you know it too," Vinyáya pointed to a crowd that was beginning to form to their left "we're here." Trouble examined the group before him; there was Foaly, Chix, Ash, Lili, Grub and probably the whole Haven City police department. He could see Mulch Diggums and Doodah Day the ex-convicts winding their way through the mass of people and a few medics chatting with a few old Section 8 officers.

"Good afternoon Commander," a medic extended his hand to shake Trouble's "you probably won't remember me but I was the one who pulled you out of the Icarus, Pat's the name."

"I remember you Pat," Trouble frowned as he scanned his memory "you had another guy with you too, a gnome."

"Yeah, that was Ronnie;" Pat gestured to another medic who was currently talking to Ash and Lili "he's a little too sociable in my opinion."

"I think I agree," Trouble found himself close to smiling as he watched Ronnie try to engage Foaly in a conversation "how long have you two been up on Ascension?"

"Ten years to date and it never gets boring," Pat's watch beeped "speaking of work I have to go-there's a fire down on Crystal." In many places throughout the crowd fairies were muting their watches and making the same excuse.

"See you later I guess," Trouble smiled and gestured to Ronnie "you may want to tell your mate that its time to go."

"Thanks Commander," Pat grabbed the back of Ronnie's shirt and didn't let go until he had dragged him out of the crowd "good luck!"

"See, they want to talk to you," Vinyáya said at his shoulder "aren't you glad that you came out?"

"No," Trouble said glumly "I'm not."

"And why not?" Vinyáya asked "can't you see that everyone's glad you're here-they've missed you, everyone has missed you."

"Well I haven't missed them," Trouble fiddled with the hem of his sleeve "and they shouldn't have missed me."

"You're wrong Kelp-"

"You are wrong Trouble," Foaly had been listening in to the conversation "I for one missed you so much that it made my heart ache!"

"Very funny Foaly," Trouble checked the time on his watch absently.

"I know it was," Foaly pulled Trouble's watch over and examined it "you've got the wrong time, the batteries dead." Trouble glanced down and sure enough the digital numbers weren't moving at all.

"Wow, I never noticed," Trouble frowned and took his watch off "it never really was reliable anyway."

"I guess it must be like its owner," Foaly whinnied then glanced at his own watch "and if I'm not very, much mistaken-or my watch is as bad as Trouble's-it's time to go in, I hope you have your speech ready Commander."

"I didn't plan to make a speech," Trouble gripped the folded piece of paper in his pocket as he lied "I can't say one now anyway."

"Don't lie Trouble," Foaly reached out and tapped the pocket that he had his hand in "you wrote one a few days ago just in case."

"There's no fooling you is there?"

"I've developed an immunity to it over the past twenty years," Foaly pointed towards a row of seats at the front of the large hall "we're over there, are you coming Commander's?"

"Of course Foaly," Vinyáya said while she grabbed Trouble's arm to keep him from running.

"No fooling you either," Trouble groaned.

"No there isn't," Vinyáya dropped Trouble's arm and pointed to his seat "now you sit yourself down and act like a good little Commander until the ceremony is over-I'll tape you to your chair and gag you if I have to."

"Fine," Trouble said and sat down with his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands to hide the tears that had escaped his eyes. He felt a small hand come to rest on his back and someone else's cover his knee. He looked up in surprise and found Vinyáya and Foaly smiling back at him.

"I hope you realise that we are your friends, not just you're superior and a technician," Vinyáya was right of course, maybe he had been too hard on them.

"I'm sorry I guess, it's just-"

"Good morning ladies and gentleman, friends and relatives, members of the public and police force," an old gnome stepped up to the pedestal at the front of the hall and lifted his hand for silence. "I would like to welcome you all to Glenelg Hall, we are here to recognise the passing of one of our own people Section 8 Major Holly Short who died in a very sad and unfortunate accident while she was serving and protecting the people. She died before her time and left behind a job that she loved and friends that will miss her forever. But we are not just here to mourn her passing; we are also here to celebrate her existence for she did much more in her short life than most of you have done in you many decades." The gnome paused and quickly skimmed through the rest of the speech that had been prepared for him by the funeral home.

"Her achievements ranged between saving the life of the late Commander Root on her initiation day to saving the Haven and the world from tragedy on five other occasions. She was described as a cheerful, fun loving elf who valued life, friends and her job above all other things. Her determination and ferocity never dimmed to the end, nor did her 'others first' nature." The gnome put down the paper that he had been reading from and stepped down from the pedestal "I believe that there are a few people here who would like to say a word, first is IA manager Joseph Bacholl."

The speech's passed quickly for Trouble, especially because he wasn't listening until he heard his name called.

"Your up Commander," Foaly put his hand on Troubles back and pushed him up from his chair "don't trip on the steps.

"I hope you realise that I'm going to kill you later Foaly," Trouble whispered then made his way numbly up to the pedestal.

"Well," Trouble coughed and unfolded the paper that had been hidden in his pocket "I was Holly's commanding officer and one of her best friends; it's hard to describe her because anything I say wouldn't do her justice. What I can say though is that she was a wonderful person and I miss her beyond words. Her passing tore a hole through me, I held her in my arms as she took her last breath, and I held her in my arms as her heart stopped-as she died. Nothing that I say would be able to express the pain that I feel right now, nothing would even come close. What I will tell you though is that even as she said her last words she was thinking of others. She told me….she told me to keep going, she told me that Haven needs heroes such as me but I don't think so. Haven needs heroes like you, everyone here is a hero themselves and that is what Haven needs. Rest in piece Holly, Heaven needs angels like you." When Trouble stepped down from the pedestal he noticed that there wasn't a dry eye left in the building (including his own) and a few people had had to excuse themselves because their emotions had got the better of them.

"That was beautiful Trouble," Vinyáya commended as he flopped down into his chair and wiped his face on his sleeve.

"I'm glad you think so Wing-Commander," Trouble opened his hand to reveal a crumpled piece of paper "I didn't actually read the speech that I wrote; I crumpled it up before I got to the second sentence."

"Next time I have to make a speech for a council meeting you can write mine," Vinyáya laughed.

"That may not be a very wise decision Commander," Trouble grinned then remembered where he was and let the grin slide from his face.

"Now friends," the old gnome was back up on the podium "thankyou for your beautiful speeches, it's now time for you to say your final goodbyes. One or two at a time you can go through into the backroom, we ask that you take no photos or video footage in that room and please turn off all electrical devices before you enter." The gnome turned and left the room, Trouble stayed in his seat as everyone got up to join the line that led to the backroom.

"Aren't you coming Commander?" Foaly whinnied as he stood.

"I'll catch up with you," Trouble sighed as he sat back in his chair "go on ahead."

"Are you coming Vinyáya?"

"I'll be there in a moment," Trouble wished that Vinyáya would go so he could escape but she seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Okay," Foaly turned to leave "don't let him run off Vinyáya-he has that look in his eye."

"Why else do you think I haven't gone yet?" Vinyáya grinned then turned to Trouble. "I hope you realise that if you don't get up soon I'm going to force you to stand up and go through there even if I have to knock you out."

"I know," Trouble whispered and bit into his knuckle to stop himself from crying again "I'm going to wait till everyone else has gone through so I can stay there a bit." Vinyáya nodded and seemed to sink down into her own thoughts but after a while she asked another question.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Concern was shining in Vinyáya's eyes and Trouble knew that she wasn't about to leave him.

"That would be good, but if I ask you to leave then"-

"I will," Vinyáya smiled and tugged at Trouble's elbow "time to get up Commander."

"Fine but I'm only doing this for Holly," Trouble blinked back the tears that appeared every time her name was spoken and followed Vinyáya into the now empty chamber. She lay there, among deep purple and violet cushions in her Section 8 uniform with her hair spread around her like a halo. Trouble hung back as Vinyáya stepped up to the platform and laid her hand on Holly's pale cheek as she began to speak in a whisper. After a few minutes Vinyáya stepped back wordlessly and pushed him forward till he stood beside his friend's resting-place.

"She would have wanted you to say goodbye to her, allow her a few words at the least," Vinyáya smiled at him encouragingly then stepped back into the shadows that surrounded the circle of soft light that was being cast from the candle that hung above the platform. Trouble gulped and allowed his tears to run freely as he placed one hand on Holly's brow and the other over her crossed hands that lay over her stomach.

"I know that you would say that it wasn't my fault but I feel that I should have done something more that day," tears were dropping down onto Holly's pale face, reflecting miniature rainbows from the candle. "Maybe if I'd found you that little bit earlier, held you that little bit earlier you'd still be alive-the thought that I could have prevented your death is too much." Trouble stopped and turned to leave but Vinyáya gestured for him to keep talking and he felt he owed her that much.

"You were the bravest, nicest, most determined, fiery, beautiful elf that I have ever known and now that you're gone my heart is too. I don't know what I'm going to do Holly-without you I can't go on, I can't face the outside world without knowing that you're by my side. What am I going to do?" Trouble reached down and caressed her cheek with his hand "I admit it now, I love you-I would tell the whole world if you came back, I would scream it from the rooftops…..but it's too late now." Vinyáya wiped a few tears from her face as she realised the depth of Trouble's pain and suffering, she could understand why he couldn't face the world now, it had happened to her as well.

"I would do anything to get you back Holly, I would walk to the ends of the Earth but I don't think that even that could bring you back," Trouble paused and examined the elf before him, his heart screamed and tore itself apart as he looked at her. He reached under her collar and found her copy of the book, it was cold against his warm palm but he found it oddly comforting. Beside the book on a thin gold chain was a small acorn in a phlexi-glass sphere, it was too late for that as well.

"Goodbye Holly," Trouble whispered "I'll see you again soon." Without dropping Holly's copy of the book Trouble leant down and kissed her gently. Behind him he could hear sobbing, Vinyáya was still in the room and she must have realised what had happened between them. Trouble closed his eyes and savoured the moment, the last time that he would ever touch the Captain in his life. He wished that he could heal her, maybe even trade his own life for hers but then they wouldn't be with each other anyway, either way one would be dead one would be alive. He let a few tears escape from under his closed eyes as he felt a small hand on his back. Vinyáya was probably trying to tell him that it was time to go Trouble pulled back, opened his eyes and turned to Vinyáya. She wasn't there, then she must be outside. Trouble turned to walk towards the exit but got the shock of his life when someone grabbed him from behind and spun him around.

"What the hell-"

******

**End Note: Yep, those six stars in a line are meant to be there, muahahahaha. Cliffhanger =D**


	14. Explanation Time

**Author's Note: Almost finished, almost.**

**Chapter 13:**

**Explanation Time**

**Glenelg Hall, Haven Funeral Home, Haven City**

Wing Commander Vinyaya was busy talking to Foaly when she heard a yelp from the backroom.

"What was that?" Foaly frowned.

"The Atlantean ambassador probably fell over his ceremonial robes going back up the stairs," Vinyaya grinned and stood up from the bench she had been sat on "I'll go take a look anyway."

"Yep," Foaly muttered as the Wing Commander disappeared "probably nothing." Meanwhile Vinyaya was making her way down to the backroom making sure to watch the steps carefully in case she was about to step on said Atlantean ambassador.

"Hello?" She called as she reached the floor below and found it empty "is anyone in here?" There was no reply as she continued across the room and reached for the neutrino that she carried in her boot.

"Don't shoot me," someone said from the centre of the room "I'm just trying to help." Vinyaya quickly made her way over to the voice and squatted beside two people, one crouched over the other who lay, on his side, motionless on the floor.

"What happened?" Vinyaya asked as she tucked her neutrino back into her boot and reached for her communicator instead.

"He fainted," the stranger stood and turned her back to Vinyaya before she could get a good look at her face in the dark room "out cold."

"So this guy isn't hurt?" Vinyaya frowned and rolled the elf onto his back "what the hell did you do Kelp?" The stranger flinched at the Commander's name and walked across to the dais where a candle burned softly, throwing sheets of golden light across its surface.

"He was probably just overwhelmed," the elf by the dais murmured "I heard that this funeral was for one of his closest friends."

"Closer than you'd think," Vinyaya replied as she lifted Trouble's eyelids "what about you? I don't think I know your name yet."

"That's hardly important Wing Commander," the stranger glanced back over her shoulder "he's waking up." Sure enough Trouble was stirring beside Vinyaya; he moaned and sat up like a bolt of lightening had struck him.

"Where is she?" He asked getting to his feet.

"Where is who?" Vinyaya groaned as she picked herself up off the floor "do you mean that person over there."

"Who the hell are you?" Trouble asked, directing his question at the elf by the dais "what are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about Kelp?" Vinyaya exclaimed, searching the room over with her eyes. Everything was in order, except for-"Kelp, where's Short's body?"

"Is it you?" Trouble persisted with his questioning; ignoring Vinyaya's questioning "you're not real though, your dead!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Vinyaya shouted as she lost her temper "and would somebody please tell me who the hell you are?"

"That's rather simple," the stranger said calmly as she turned slightly "the explanation is going to be a lot harder."

"Do any of you know the meaning of straight answers?" Vinyaya said, her voice strained.

"Is this straight enough for you then Commander?" The stranger asked and turned around, auburn hair flying through the air. Vinyaya gasped and gripped a nearby wall to stay upright "Holly?"

******

"The one and only," Holly smiled weakly and walked over to support Vinyaya by the elbow "I can tell that you're both going to want to hear the answer to this so I suggest that we all sit down." Trouble was too stunned to say anything so he allowed his legs to collapse beneath him and stared at the major, Vinyaya quickly followed suit.

"So," Holly began "where should I start?"

"At the beginning," Vinyaya replied, her face decidedly pale "for my benefit."

"Okay, but I expect some help with this Trouble," Holly sighed and rested her head in her hands "As you probably already know the shuttle that we were on, the Icarus was taken over by ex-LEP Commander Ark Sool-where is he by the way?"

"We're tracking him at the moment," Vinyaya replied "the last that we heard was that he and his accomplice were hiding out in Australia, although we're not quite sure where."

"He better be running," Trouble muttered "as soon as I get my hands near the starter chip for a shuttle-any shuttle-he's going to have me on his tail."

"He already has half of the LEP on his tail anyway," Vinyaya interrupted "can we carry on with the explanation please?"

"Okay," Holly swallowed and rested her face in her hands "I think I know what _might _have happened but don't ask me about the details-or even how this whole explanation makes sense, that's more Foaly's department."

"Just the theory will do major," Vinyaya smiled "for now."

"The main idea of this explanation is that magic is volatile, its an unpredictable thing-almost like a living organism," Holly stopped to make sure that they had understood what she was getting at "so it could possibly do much more than what we think it can, unseen potential."

"So you're saying that the magic brought you back?" Vinyaya asked with thinly veiled scepticism.

"Not exactly," Holly paused than turned abruptly to the stunned LEP Commander "does she know Trouble?"

"Know about what?" Trouble's voice sounded distant but he had stopped shaking.

"Us," Holly said quietly.

"Yes," Trouble nodded "I think she worked it out a while ago."

"Indeed I did major," Vinyaya agreed "it was a little obvious when Trouble here started attacking anyone who insulted you in the slightest." Trouble blushed red and looked away as Holly continued.

"Well there was an incident on the shuttle that caused my magic to be sucked into the ships power supply and I believe that it adapted itself to fix the ship," Holly looked up to see Vinyaya staring at her as if she had developed a few additional heads. "I know that it sounds crazy but I'm sure that Foaly will find a way to explain it later. What I'm trying to get at is the fact that the ship took my magic and I had none left to heal myself when I was impaled on a gas screen during the crash. I think that the safety harness I was wearing tore in one place thanks to the immense G-force of the shuttles re-entry."

"It did tear right through in one place," Trouble confirmed as he turned back to face the two females "and the ship did heal itself although I thought that I was delusional when I saw it happen."

"I think I can imagine," the Wing Commander said "continue please."

"Okay," Holly paused as she ordered her thoughts "Trouble had no magic left after he healed himself and so there was no magic left in either of us. I could feel my body dying as the seconds ticked by, the last thing that I remember was, um……kissing the Commander." Holly finished in a voice that was almost a whisper and looked away as she blushed and tried to hold back tears from the memory.

"So was that it?" Vinyaya asked, unfazed by this latest revelation "I still don't see how you came back."

"Well, something happened then but I'm not sure how to describe it," Holly frowned "it was as if my soul left my body-I know how that sounds but it's true."

"I wasn't going to say anything but I could have sworn I felt something like electricity spread through my body," Troubles voice was distant as he stared into thin air "and when I kissed you on the dais I thought I felt something leave me, almost like a part of me go to you."

"Are you sure?" Vinyaya was thoroughly confused.

"Absolutely," Holly and Trouble answered in unison.

"Okay then," Vinyaya began again "I think that we should all go home for the night and ask Foaly about this first thing tomorrow."

"Sounds like a good plan," Trouble agreed "but I think the sold Holly's flat a while back."

"Sold my flat?" Holly grinned "I never liked that place anyway but what about my stuff?"

"Most of it is in storage still and I kept your ferns at my place," Trouble admitted "and amazingly they are still alive."

"So where am I going to stay until I can get another flat?" Holly asked.

"You could stay at my place," Trouble began "I have a spare room since Grub moved out."

"You look relieved for some reason Trouble," Vinyaya laughed "don't tell me that you didn't want your little brother staying with you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Trouble agreed as he rolled his eyes "so what do you say Holly? Would you like to stay at my place or camp out at Section 8 HQ?"

"Do you really think I would want to stay at Section 8? No offence Wing Commander."

"No offence taken major," Vinyaya laughed "I wouldn't stay there either, especially because the building is going to be converted soon and we're transferring everyone over to the LEP."

"So does that mean that I get to go back to recon?" Holly asked eagerly.

"Yes, if the Commander agrees," Vinyaya grinned.

"He already asked me to go back to recon before," Holly admitted "I was just waiting to ask you."

"Then you can," Vinyaya stopped talking abruptly as she heard the clatter of feet on the nearby stairs "you two should go now, take the back door before someone comes down here and has a fit."

"Thanks," Holly said as she waved to Vinyaya and turned to Trouble "which way?"

"This way," he pointed and grabbed her by the arm "quickly."


	15. Foaly?

**Author's Note: One more chapter after this! One more…**

**Chapter 14:**

**Foaly?**

**The next morning, Apartment 63 Haven City Boulevard, Haven City.**

"I should have known that you weren't one for sleeping in Commander," Holly groaned as she stretched the next morning "must come with the job."

"I think it does," Trouble replied as he pulled two nettle smoothies from the fridge and handed one to Holly "what with working all hours of the night and day and being on call twenty four seven."

"I'd hate to have your job," Holly smiled and looked at her watch "and may I remind you that Foaly wanted us in ops ten minutes ago."

"Make him wait," Trouble laughed and pulled on his boots as he threw the empty foam cup into a recycler on the other side of the room "he deserves it anyway for putting us on that gods cursed shuttle."

"I guess he does," Holly agreed as she threw her now empty foam cup at the same recycler that Trouble had moments ago and hit it easily "Grub's old room isn't that bad by the way, it only smells like disinfectant and cheap perfume."

"That's Grub," Trouble moaned as he shook his head in dismay and opened the front door "always insisted that his room was clean and smelt _nice_ before he left for work everyday, I still don't see how we could possibly be related."

"Neither do I," Holly grinned and stepped into the hallway ahead of the Commander "I'll race you to Police Plaza."

"You know you shouldn't," Trouble scolded but she had already sprinted down the corridor ahead of him and was far out of hearing range. Rolling his eyes at the same time as letting a crooked grin slip onto his face Trouble raced after her as she took the stairs three at a time.

******

"Nothing's changed." Foaly scowled as he sat slumped over his keyboard "their late as usual."

"Aren't you glad that nothing has changed?" Vinyaya asked from his shoulder "I thought that we had lost her for good yesterday."

"So did I," Foaly admitted "but that was some entrance that she made back there."

"Sometimes I think that she's only capable of big entrances and last minute saves but then I remember all the other times that she has completed a routine mission with nothing out of the ordinary and I realise that she's capable of anything."

"I knew that a long time ago," Foaly turned in his specially customised swivel chair as he examined the Wing Commanders face "just don't tell her that or she will never stop rubbing it in."

"Tell me what Foaly?" Holly asked from the doorway as she leant casually against the frame.

"Nothing," Foaly grinned "I missed you when you were gone."

"I know," Holly smiled sadly "but I'm here now right?"

"Of course," Foaly chuckled and jumped from his chair to wrap his friend in a pair of incredibly hairy arms "and I'm never going to send you up into space in a hijacked shuttle ever again."

"That I was hoping for," Holly joked and broke away from the centaur as she took a seat on one of his many work benches "now I think we would all like your explanation of the events that happened aboard and after the crash of the Icarus."

"Alright then," Foaly whinnied as he cracked his knuckles over his keyboard "I spent ages researching and I came up with a few things that may help to piece together our wonderful little puzzle."

"And these things are?" Trouble prompted impatiently as he entered the room still panting slightly.

"A few interesting bits of information that I found on magic, took a long, long time to find them too," Foaly moaned and promptly shut up as three glares fixed solidly on him. "The first explains, well atleast I _think _that it explains what happened to Holly's magic when it blended with the ships electricity feed. As we all know matter cannot be destroyed as such, it can be only be changed or converted into something else." There were a few confused nods and stares shot around the room but Foaly ignored these and continued.

"My theory is that Holly's magic mutated within the ships nuclear core and turned into some kind of magic/energy that we have never heard of before," Foaly looked up again and saw the confusion still written across the three fairies faces but it seemed to be clearing "that would explain how the ship was able to heal itself after it crashed and how Holly was drained of magic in the first place."

"But what about my…..resurrection," Holly said for lack of a better word "do you have an explanation for that?"

"Yes," Foaly laughed "but I think that you would like it more if I were to keep this theory private, lets just say that it has a lot to do with the mixings of magic, love and the soul."

"I don't think that we need to go into this any further," Holly agreed as she blushed a slight red and looked away from Foaly as she looked instead to Wing Commander Vinyaya and accused her unabashedly "you told him what happened. Didn't you?"

"I guess I did," Vinyaya admitted guiltily "but he needed to know to figure this thing out."

"We're never going to live this one down are we?" Trouble asked through gritted teeth.

"No," Foaly laughed and turned back to his monitors "now you should leave before I decide to really torment you two."

"We're going," Holly said quickly and headed towards the door behind the Wing Commander who was already disappearing around the far corner of the corridor "come on Commander." Trouble paused for a second before turning away from the various monitors that Foaly was watching as soon as he turned away though he turned back.

"Foaly?" Trouble frowned "where is the camera G-five-five-four located?"

"Some place in Australia, why?" Foaly answered without even glancing up from his other monitors.

"Because there appears to be a certain ex-LEP Commander on this screen who is currently on the run from the police," Trouble waited for the centaur to jump in surprise.

"What are you talking about Trouble?" Foaly rolled his eyes as he kept staring at his monitors "that camera is sitting in the rafters at a little roadhouse called Glendambo that is in the middle of nowhere and you think that Sool is just……" Foaly broke off and stared at the video footage "sat at a table drinking coffee."

"That's what it looks like to me," Trouble agreed as Foaly enlarged the photo "would you really mind if I signed out a few pairs of wings and took a squad topside to have a poke around up there?"

"Go for it but just so you know I cant give you a squad right now," Foaly sighed and "this guy's way of thinking is over my head."


	16. Sool and a Happy Ending

**Author's Note: This is the last chapter! I hope you've enjoyed reading this =D**

**Chapter 15:**

**Sool and a Happy Ending**

**Somwhere in the middle of Australia.**

"We're almost there," Commander Trouble Kelp commented as he soared, shielded over a completely deserted road in the middle of nowhere "one minute thirty till arrival."

"Good job Trub," Foaly whinnied through the speakers in the elf's helmet "although I'm still not very happy about the shuttle thing, you could have at least waited for me to get there before you stole it."

"Where would be the fun in that?" Trouble joked as he switched to a private radio channel to talk to his so far silent companion "what do you think of the view?"

"It's nice," Holly replied automatically as she scanned her surroundings. The bush that they were flying over remained completely untouched by human hands and was thriving with animal life even in such a harsh climate. "There's sun though, and the mud men have managed to get their rubbish out this far."

"I wouldn't be surprised to find a packet of chips in the middle of the Amazon jungle," Trouble joked as he read from the information that was scrolling down the side of his visor "the roadhouse that we are heading to is fairly small, it has a shop and café and a pub sort of thing beside it, Sool's hiding in the cafe."

"Hiding?" Holly frowned "he obviously hasn't been on the run before if he thinks that he's safe in there; I wonder why he didn't think to hide somewhere a little more populated."

"Maybe he thought that the further away from civilisation that he got the less likely it was for Foaly to find him," Trouble smiled "but I think he forgot that there was a so called UFO sighting here and the LEP came to check it out, of course we left a few cameras scattered about just incase."

"What was the UFO?" Holly asked, curious.

"A shuttle that had been hijacked at the major shuttle port under Uluru,"

Trouble replied.

"Who-" Holly was cut off by Foaly, he had hacked into their so called 'private' channel because he was bored with talking to himself.

"The road house was actually built in-"

"It's alright Foaly," Trouble interrupted the centaur "we don't need to know that, all I'm interested in is bringing Sool down."

"Revenge," Foaly chuckled in the background "how sweet the word."

"Shut up," Holly growled before Foaly could start singing, some idiot had once made a song about the word revenge and the centaur now insisted on singing it whenever he had the chance.

"I should be offended," Foaly grumbled with a ridiculous pout "but somehow I'm not."

"Good," Trouble grinned and cut the centaur out of their channel "gotcha."

"How did you do that?" Holly asked "it might come in handy someday."

"If you can get a fix on the frequency that Foaly's broadcasting on then you can block it out," Trouble looked at his locator and noticed that they were almost at their target "I'll show you later."

"How long does it work for?" Holly asked, still interested.

"As long as it takes me to start broadcasting on another frequency of course," Foaly's voice crackled through their helmet speakers and came into focus "which is about two seconds."

"Great," Holly groaned and scowled at the centaur who had started projecting his image into the corner of their helmet visors "I thought that we'd lost you but obviously not."

"It's hard to lose me," Foaly chuckled "extremely hard."

"I think that we can all testify to that fact," Trouble moaned and pulled his neutrino from its holster in one fluid movement "we better get ready."

"Why?" Holly frowned.

"Because were about to go kick Sool's-"

"Language Trubby," Foaly laughed.

"Ass," completed Holly.

******

**Sool's POV, Glendambo Road House, Australia.**

"This is wonderful coffee Gloria," ex-Commander Ark Sool chuckled to the chef, unaware of the danger that was fast approaching him "would it be too much to ask for some chips to go with it?"

"Of course not," Gloria smiled and disappeared behind the counter, the mysterious short man had turned up at the road house a few days ago but he was a good customer so se refrained from asking questions about his origins (or his height for that matter) "one hot chips for you mister Sool."

"I told you already," Sool grinned in what he thought was a charming manner when he took the offered chips from Gloria "call me Ark."

"Sure," Gloria smiled, slightly uncomfortable with the strange man "I'm going to go check out back, if anyone comes in could you tell them that I'll be back in five?"

"Yes," Sool nodded and walked across to a display that was pinned to one of the walls of the café. He read through it as he ate his chips, it was a competition for the best trucker in the outback. He laughed at the mud men's stupidity as he looked through the photos of men in sweatshirts and shorts leaning against various trucks and cars, if only they knew who he was, then they wouldn't be so rude.

"Hello?" a female voice called from the café's entrance "is anyone here."

"Gloria's out back for five," Sool replied, not even bothering to turn around.

"We aren't looking for Gloria," said another voice, male "we're looking for you Sool."

"Me?" Sool began innocently as he put his chips down and began to turn around "what would you want with me?"

"We want to arrest you for crimes against the people, four counts of attempted murder and on count of manslaughter," Sool now faced two green clad officers "and that's only for one of your charges."

"I think that there's been a misunderstanding here officer," Sool said as his eyes flicked towards the open window at his side "I never did anything-"

"Oh yes you did," the other officer growled as she pulled of her helmet "you killed me."

"S-short?" Sool stuttered "you're alive?"

"And here to kick you, yes," Holly replied simply as she stepped forward, buzz baton in hand.

"You can't do that," Sool jumped backwards "your Commander will throw you off the force before you can even touch me."

"Want to bet?" Trouble asked as he pulled his helmet off, neutrino aimed at Sool's heart.

"You can't," Sool shouted as he stared wide-eyed at his succeeder "how dare you-"

"Shut up," Holly said happily and spun on her heel top kick Sool in the gut "or I'll have to make you."

"You can't," Sool groaned as he crumpled to the floor clutching his stomach.

"I can," Holly chuckled and kicked him again, this time in the back.

"And so can I," Trouble grinned as he picked Sool's head up by his hair and slammed it into the floor.

"Urgh," Sool moaned as his face connected with the ground with a wonderful crunching noise.

"He never did say much," Holly grinned as she slapped a pair of cuffs onto his wrists and shoved him out the door of the café "what do we do with him now?"

"You leave him in the bin across the road," Foaly laughed, he had been watching the whole incident from the cameras in the ops booth and had taken the liberty of recording it "I've dispatched Major Vein and Chix to pick him up; they'll be there in a few minutes and have permission to use force if he wakes up."

"Well," Trouble smiled "it looks like we have some free time between now and when we have to be back in the shuttle port for the return leg of the journey."

"What do you say to a race?" Holly grinned back at her Commander as they threw Sool upside down into the rubbish bin that Foaly had indicated.

"I'd love to have a race," Trouble glanced at his locator "and because I'm the Commander I can approve it, last one to the shuttle port has to buy the other one dinner tonight."

"Hang on a minute Commander," Holly frowned as she held up a finger "that almost sounded like you asking me out on a date."

"I guess it did," Trouble held out his hand "is it a deal?"

"Deal," Holly shook his hand with an incredibly serious look on her face "you better be prepared to lose."

"I don't know about that Major," the elf looked down at his locator while the other primed her wings "go."

"What?" Holly looked up abruptly to see Trouble shoot off into the sky "that's not fair!"

"It so is!" Trouble laughed "especially if you want to go back to my flat and eat pizza instead of going to some random restaurant."

"If there's a movie in there somewhere then I'm up for it," Holly laughed and pressed a button on her wing set "I'll see you there."

"What are you talking about," Trouble asked as he frowned and looked back at his companion just in time to see her shoot past him and wave "no what isn't fair, who told you about the boosters?"

"You forget that I have access to all radio channels," Foaly whinnied from a video box in the corner of Trouble's helmet visor "and I believe that by the time you get back the whole of the LEP will now just how much you suck at asking someone out."

"Like you can speak," Trouble growled "you asked Caballine to marry you in an E-mail."

"It's my job," Foaly shrugged "now you better catch her up before she can get a real head start on you."

"Maybe I want her to win," Trouble sighed.

"I heard that!" Holy laughed, a few kilometres ahead of her companion by now "now hurry up before I decide to come back and use you as target practice."

"I'm going to kill you Foaly!" Trouble growled as he pressed the booster button on his wing control panel "right after I beat you Holly."

"Dream on," Holly laughed "I'm still holding back."

"Sure you are," Trouble chuckled as he passed her "see you at the shuttle port."

"I'm going to refrain from commenting," Foaly smiled as he shut off the video connection he had had running "but Vinyaya owes me a wage rise."

**The End**

**End Note: Okay, if you want to flame, at least be constructive and keep in mind that this was written **_**three years ago **_**I have improved since then, it would impossible not to! Other than that, I'd just like to thank you again for reading and say bye bye….well, at least for the moment! I'll probably be back all too soon.**

**Also, this story is dedicated to **extra short **(Kirsty), the fandom misses you (especially the HT side of things)**

**One more note (yeah, I'm still here *ducks rotten vegetables*) I'm quite sick at the moment (asthma) and on a _lot _of medications (I'm about one day away from hospital). I would love some reviews to make me smile, even if they aren't about the story =D**


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